Department of Health and Social Care

Social Services: Finance

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2019 to Question 259385, when he plans to publish the green paper on funding social care.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government will set out a plan to fix the care system and give every older person the dignity and security they deserve.We will set out our proposals in due course.

Cancer: Aerials and Electric Cables

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people with cancer that live within a mile of (a) an electricity pylon and (b) a mobile telecommunications mast.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Mental Illness

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effects of (a) unemployment and (b) poverty on levels of mental illness.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey (2014) assessed various psychiatric disorders and considered a range of socioeconomic aspects, namely household type, employment status and benefit status. The data showed that people in receipt of Employment and Support Allowance experienced particularly high rates of most disorders. The Survey’s report is available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-survey/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-survey-survey-of-mental-health-and-wellbeing-england-2014  The Health Survey for England (2014) reported on the prevalence of being diagnosed with a mental illness, by household income and area deprivation. It found that men and women living in lower income households were more likely to report ever having been diagnosed with a mental illness than those living in higher income households. The Survey’s report is available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/health-survey-for-england/health-survey-for-england-2014

Mental Illness

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of living in (a) an urban and (b) a rural environment on levels of mental illness.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Public Health England and the Local Government Association published the report, Health and Wellbeing in Rural Areas in 2017 at the following link:https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/1.39_Health%20in%20rural%20areas_WEB.pdfThe report highlights the variation in social factors that impact people in rural and urban areas, including factors that influence mental health and wellbeing.The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published guidance to help policy makers assess the impact of policies on rural communities, recognising the specific issues faced by these communities at the following link:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/600450/rural-proofing-guidance.pdfScores from the General Health Questionnaire psychometric screening tool show that people living in greener areas experienced significantly lower levels of mental distress while life satisfaction scores show significantly higher levels of wellbeing among people living in greener areas.

Psychiatry: Research

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of universities on research into mindfulness-based therapies; and what research projects his Department has funded into mindfulness-based therapies in the last three years.

Ms Nadine Dorries: No such discussions have taken place.The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).In the last three years, the NIHR has funded a number of studies investigating mindfulness-based therapies for a range of conditions from depression to chronic pelvic pain; and for individuals throughout the life course, including learning mindfulness in schools and mindfulness interventions for mood and cognitive functioning in older adults.

Psychiatry

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) efficacy and (b) cost of mindfulness-based therapies in treating (i) attention deficit disorder, (ii) hyperactivity and (iii) other mental health conditions.

Ms Nadine Dorries: No such assessment has been made.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) examines evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness when providing guidelines and recommendations of treatment. Presently, mindfulness-based therapy is only recommended for the treatment of depression in adults.The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme was set up to deliver evidence based psychological therapies, including mindfulness-based therapies, as recommended by NICE, for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders but information is not available broken down by therapy type.

Food: Health Education

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what public awareness campaigns his Department initiated on food and drink that poses a threat to public health in each of the last five years.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Public Health: Expenditure

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what public health campaigns his Department has funded in each of the last 10 years; and how much his Department spent on each of those campaigns.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Compulsorily Detained Psychiatric Patients

Dr Dan Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of mental-health bed admissions there were under the Mental Health Act 1983 in each year since 2009.

Ms Nadine Dorries: I refer the hon. Member to the Answer given by the former Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Jackie Doyle-Price MP) on 8 July 2019 to Question 270777.

NHS: Drugs

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July to Question 272107, what his Department’s express freight service is planned to deliver; by what form of transport that service will be delivered; over what time period that service will run; and what estimate he has made of the cost of that service to the public purse.

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2019 to Question 272107 on Department of Health and Social Care: Brexit, what medicines will be in the small medical supply consignment referred to in that answer.

Chris Skidmore: The Express Freight Service is intended to provide access to an end to end solution able to deliver small consignments on a 24 hour basis with additional provision to move larger pallet quantities on a two to four day basis. The initial contract length is one year, extendable by a further one year, with sufficient flexibility to end the contract earlier if required. The total estimated value of services provided to the Department over a two year period of the contract, if exercised, is £3 million. Users of the freight solution would be required to pay for any capacity they use. The bid response period closed on 22 August and the bids are currently being evaluated by the Department.The Government recognises the vital importance of all medicines and medical products and as such, the Express Freight Service is designed to be capable of transporting all medicines and medical products used within the health and social care system in the United Kingdom.

NHS: Drugs

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July to Question 272107 on Department of Health and Social Care: Brexit, whether his Department has assessed the average additional costs facing companies transferring medicines and medical equipment in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. It is a priority for the Department and industry to work together to put in place robust preparations to help ensure a continuous supply of medicines and medical products. We recognise suppliers may incur additional costs for their contingency planning, including storage costs, rerouting products and preparing for new border arrangements. We have been working closely with industry to minimise costs and are considering how best we might support suppliers in their contingency planning.

NHS: Drugs

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2019 to Question 272107 on Department of Health and Social Care: Brexit, how many regulatory requirements still need to be changed.

Chris Skidmore: The Government is committed to ensuring a functioning statute book after Exit day in all scenarios and all exit related statutory instruments being laid in Parliament will help provide certainty for businesses and the public. To date, the Department has laid 36 exit-related statutory instruments, including those on behalf of the Food Standards Agency and Northern Ireland Civil Service, all of which can be found at the following link legislation.gov.ukAll critical legislation required to achieve a functioning statute book after Exit day is on track to be laid in time to come into force on 31 October.

Travel: Insurance

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2019 to Question 272107 on Department of Health and Social Care: Brexit, how many citizens with existing healthcare conditions the Government has contacted to help ensure that they have the correct travel insurance.

Chris Skidmore: The United Kingdom Government has published advice for all United Kingdom nationals visiting the European Union after exit day. This advice is available on GOV.UK and NHS.UK at the following links:https://www.gov.uk/visit-europe-brexithttps://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/healthcare-abroad/healthcare-when-travelling-abroad/travelling-in-the-european-economic-area-eea-and-switzerland/People requiring treatment for existing healthcare conditions when travelling should always seek advice from their doctor or specialist unit before booking travel.The Government has always advised UK citizens to take out comprehensive travel insurance when going overseas, both to EU and non-EU destinations. The European Healthcare Insurance Card is not an alternative to travel insurance and we have always advised that individuals should have both when travelling abroad.People with existing healthcare conditions are advised talk with their general practitioner or healthcare provider, as well as their insurer about how to get the right cover, and how this might affect their travel.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much each clinical commissioning group has spent on child and adolescent mental health services in each year since 2013.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Information on spend on mental health provision for children and young people aged 0-25, by clinical commissioning group is not available prior to 2016/17. Details of spend for 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 is set out in the attached table. This includes spend on eating disorders but excludes spend on learning disabilities.This information is included in the Mental Health Five Year Forward View Dashboard, published by NHS England, which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/taskforce/imp/mh-dashboard/

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of children and adolescents with mental health problems who required treatment in each year since 2013; and what assessment he has made of the levels of severity of those problems.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Information on the overall prevalence of mental health conditions in children and young people is available in ‘Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2017’, published in November 2018 and available at the following link:https://files.digital.nhs.uk/A6/EA7D58/MHCYP%202017%20Summary.pdf NHS Digital has also published experimental statistics covering the number of children and young people accessing National Health Service-funded community mental health services in England. These show that 377,866 children and young people were in contact with NHS-funded community services in 2018/19 and received two clinically meaningful contacts, a proxy for receiving treatment. These are available at the following link: https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/mental-health-services-monthly-statistics/number-of-children-and-young-people-accessing-nhs-funded-community-mental-health-services-in-england-april-2018-to-march-2019-experimental-statistics

Social Services: Learning Disability

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve care for people with learning difficulties.

Caroline Dinenage: Improving the care and support for people with a learning disability or autism, remains a government priority.‘Building the Right Support’ is the national plan in England to build community capacity to allow people with a learning disability or autism to live and be supported well in their community. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to implementing the ‘Building the Right Support’ plan in full.Annual health checks are available to patients on the general practitioner register who are aged 14 years and over who have a learning disability. Health checks and resulting action plans help to reduce recognised health inequalities. The number of people who had an annual health check increased by 10% in 2017/18 compared with 2016/17, to 147,180. The NHS Long Term Plan commits to improve uptake of the existing annual health checks so that at least 75% of those people with a learning disability who are eligible have a health check each year.NHS Improvement has introduced Learning Disability Improvement Standards for NHS trusts in England to help ensure that trusts monitor and review the care they provide to people with a learning disability or autism. Inclusion of the improvement standards in the NHS Standard contract 2019/20, mandated by NHS England for use by commissioners of all healthcare services except primary care, means that all providers must have regard to the improvement standards.NHS England and NHS Digital, in partnership with patient and carer groups and other key stakeholders, are working to develop a national ‘reasonable adjustment’ flag to indicate on electronic patient records the reasonable adjustments which services can make to help people with a learning disability access healthcare equitably.We recently consulted on proposals to introduce mandatory learning disability and autism awareness training for all health and care staff, to ensure they have the knowledge and skills to deliver safe, compassionate and informed care. We received over 5,000 responses and will respond to the consultation in the coming months.

MMR Vaccine

Adam Holloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that parents and carers are provided with accurate information on the benefits and risks of the MMR vaccine.

Jo Churchill: The National Health Service website has a dedicated page on the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which can be found at the following link:https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/mmr-vaccine/In addition, Public Health England provides information on the benefits and risks of the MMR vaccine to the public using NHS branded leaflets, some of which are available in multiple languages. The leaflets address common questions about the MMR vaccine. In addition to parents and carers this information is designed for use by schools, healthcare centres, accident and emergency departments, hospital wards, walk-in centres and general practices.

Disability: International Cooperation

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which representatives of the UK Government attended the Second Global Rehabilitation 2030 Meeting in Geneva on 8 and 9 July 2019.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cancer: Health Services

Craig Tracey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeline is for the implementation of personalised cancer care interventions for all patients, including those with secondary cancers, including access to a clinical nurse specialist or other support worker.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Clinical Trials: Children and Young People

Craig Tracey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS Long Term Plan, what steps he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to meet the target that 50 per cent of people taking part in clinical trials are teenagers and young adults by 2025.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) is committed to the involvement, engagement and participation of children and young people (CYP) in all relevant research, supporting researchers and funders, as well as empowering children and young people to lead their own journey with research.The NIHR is working with NHS England, cancer charities, teenage and young adult cancer patients, and clinicians towards meeting this NHS Long Term Plan commitment relating to CYP with cancer.The NIHR Clinical Research Network has held two summits. The first summit, held in 2017, developed a clear strategy. The second summit, held in April this year, focused on ensuring that the strategy’s objectives were still fit for purpose, and that the right stakeholders were engaged to ensure successful delivery. The NIHR Clinical Research Network is now funding a dedicated teenage and young adult cancer research nurse in each of its 15 Local Clinical Research Networks, with posts made available from 1 April 2019.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Green Paper entitled, Transforming children and young people’s mental health, if he will review the Green Paper consultation processes to improve guidance for people who wish to engage with the process.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Consultation on the Green Paper, ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health’, was carried out in line with the Government’s published set of government consultation principles. These principles give clear guidance to Government departments on conducting consultations and are available at the following link:www.gov.uk/government/publications/consultation-principles-guidance

Obesity: Research

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to increase funding for research into the causes of obesity; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR has a large programme of work to look at the causes of obesity, in addition to research on prevention and treatment. The NIHR has invested £5 million over five years in an Obesity Policy Research Unit which has a programme of work to provide robust evidence and a deeper understanding of the causes of childhood obesity, including research on marketing, food environment and behaviour change.The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including obesity; it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.

Malnutrition

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to NHS England’s Commissioning Excellent Nutrition and Hydration 2015-2018 guidance, what progress he has made on the commissioning of a workforce to undertake the (a) identification, (b) prevention and (c) intervention to reduce the burden of malnutrition and dehydration.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department has commissioned on the efficacy of mindfulness-based therapies in the treatment of (a) stress, (b) depression and (c) other mental health conditions in the last five years; and which organisation conducted each such research project.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including mindfulness-based therapies for the treatment of mental health conditions. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.The NIHR is the largest funder of mental health research in the United Kingdom and it has considerable investments in translational, clinical and applied mental health research. NIHR investment in mental health research for 2017/18 was £74.8 million. In the last five years the NIHR has funded a number of studies investigating mindfulness-based therapies for a range of mental health conditions across its research programmes, biomedical and applied research centres and research fellowships. These range from a trial of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for people with mild to moderate depression to a study which is evaluating the effects of mindfulness and connection with nature on chronic stress and well-being in deprived areas.The attached table provides details of these studies, including which organisation conducted each project.



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Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many NHS staff were qualified to treat patients with mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy in each of the last three years.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how UK mindfulness research centres and universities have contributed to the development of NHS mindfulness-based practice and therapies.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department is not aware of how United Kingdom mindfulness research centres and universities may have contributed to the development of National Health Service mindfulness-based practice and therapies.

Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of patients treated for mental health disorders in NHS facilities received (a) drugs, (b) psychological therapy, (c) mindfulness meditation and (d) a combination of such approaches in the latest period for which figures are available.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Mental Health Services: Expenditure

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS has spent on (a) anti-depressant drugs and (b) mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy in each year for which data is available.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Information on how much the National Health Service has spent on antidepressant drugs is not collected in the format requested.Information on expenditure on mindfulness-based therapies provided through NHS Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services is not separately identifiable and cannot be provided.

Mental Health Services: Expenditure

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the Government spent on research into (a) anti-depressant drug treatment and (b) mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy in the latest period for which figures are available.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including mental health. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. The NIHR is the largest funder of mental health research in the United Kingdom. It has considerable investments in translational, clinical and applied mental health research. NIHR investment in mental health research for 2017/18 was £74.8 million.The latest spend figures for research on antidepressant drug treatment and mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy are as follows:Antidepressant drugs: Financial Expenditure2017/182018/19NIHR Programmes total spend£2,558,406.14£3,269,938.30 Mindfulness - based therapyFinancial Expenditure2017/182018/19NIHR Programmes total spend£206,648£308,645.22It should be noted that the spend figure on antidepressants will include studies where anti-depressants are repurposed for use in treating other conditions or where an anti-depressant will be being compared to a non-pharmacological intervention.

Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) efficacy and (b) cost of the use of (i) anti-depressant drugs and (ii) mindfulness-based stress reduction therapy and mindfulness cognitive behaviour therapy.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for the regulation of medicines used in the United Kingdom, including efficacy. Anti-depressant medicines licensed in the UK have been approved after robust supporting data has been submitted to demonstrate the quality, safety and efficacy of the product for the condition it is intended to treat. For a medicine to be licenced, the benefit to risk balance should be positive. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) examines evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness when providing guidelines and recommendations of treatment. Presently, mindfulness-based therapy is only recommended for the treatment of depression in adults. NICE pathways bring together everything NICE says on a topic. The pathway for depression, including antidepressant treatment, is available at the following link:https://pathways.nice.org.uk/pathways/depression

Cancer: Screening

Craig Tracey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with Sir Mike Richards of NHS England on workforce implications for the NHS workforce in supporting the Independent Review of National Cancer Screening Programmes.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Genetic Engineering

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of NICE’s ability to offer interim conditional reimbursement decisions to gene therapies that would allow for real-world evidence generation to supplement the evidence base.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of compensation available under the Vaccine Damage Payment scheme.

Jo Churchill: The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme is not a compensation scheme. There is no assessment of what losses were actually suffered by the claimant. It provides a one off tax-free lump sum payment (currently £120,000) to successful claimants and is one part of the wide range of support and help available to severely disabled people in the United Kingdom.There are no plans to change the level of payment provided as part of the Scheme.

Allergies: Medical Equipment

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the availability of adrenaline auto-injectors.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Mental Health Act 1983

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeframe is for the publication of a White Paper on reforming the Mental Health Act.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We recently announced that the Government will publish a White Paper by the end of the year.

Carer's Allowance

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to support the mental, emotional and physical wellbeing of (a) carers and (b) carers who face financial uncertainty as a result of the suspension of their carer’s allowance.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government recognises and appreciates the contribution made by unpaid carers who provide invaluable support. We are committed to continuing to support carers to provide care as they would wish, and to do so in a way that supports their own health and wellbeing, employment and other life chances.The cross-Government Carers Action Plan was published on 5 June 2018, through which we set out a series of commitments to support all carers, regardless of whether they receive carers allowance, in the short term. We want to make sure that carers receive the support that they are entitled to and so the Department is working with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services on a sector-led improvement programme of work, focused on the implementation of the duties relating to carers in the Care Act (2014). We expect that by summer 2020 a series of resources and learning to support commissioners to do this will be published.The Department for Work and Pensions does not suspend Carer’s Allowance claims lightly and will only do so where there is reasonable doubt about ongoing entitlement to benefit.

National Institute for Clinical Excellence

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he publish the names of the members of the (a) steering group, (b) working group and (c) each of the task and finish groups for NICE’s review into its methods and processes.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Genetic Engineering

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment has been made of the suitability of NICE’s process of medicines appraisal for new cell and gene therapy therapies.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cystic Fibrosis

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect on the availability of treatments and medication for cystic fibrosis of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave the European Union on 31 October.The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medicines, including those for people with cystic fibrosis, to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies. On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products in a potential ‘no deal’ exit scenario on 31 October. Further details can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans

Nurses: Recruitment

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Prime Minister's statement of 24 July 2019, what steps he is taking to recruit more nurses.

Chris Skidmore: There are currently over 16,700 more nurses on wards when compared to 2010. The latest data published by the University and College Admissions Service (on 11 July 2019) shows that there has been a 4.6% increase in the number of undergraduate applicants to pre-registration nursing and midwifery courses when compared to the equivalent point in 2018.The Department has put in place a number of actions to increase nursing workforce supply, including improving staff retention, return to practice, overseas recruitment and expanding nursing associates.The interim People Plan (published on 3 June 2019) puts staff at the heart of National Health Service policy and delivery and sets out how we will secure a capable and motivated multidisciplinary healthcare workforce, of a sufficient size, to meet population health needs. It sets out the immediate actions needed to grow the nursing workforce across all settings by over 40,000 in the next five years. A final People Plan will be published in due course.

NHS: Emergencies

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the results of the deep dive of NHS organisations’ compliance against Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response will be published.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Health Services: Standards

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timescale is for the Care Quality Commission quality framework to include temperature and hydration in the inspections as part of ensuring a safe environment.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Care Quality Commission already considers temperature and hydration as part of its inspection framework.

Weather: Death

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the (a) number and (b) nature of the excess deaths in the heatwave in June, July and August 2018.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Lipoedema: Diagnosis

Sir Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to (a) raise awareness and (b) decrease the number of misdiagnoses of Lipoedema.

Caroline Dinenage: The National Health Service website provides information for patients and the public on a wide range of conditions, including lipoedema.To support clinicians in identifying and treating lipoedema, in May 2014, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) worked in partnership with the charity Lipoedema UK to develop and publish an e-learning module for GPs on the diagnosis and management of lipoedema. The module was endorsed by the Royal College of Nursing and updated in 2018.In May 2017 Wounds UK, an organisation that provides guidance, education and training in wound and skin management, published best practice guidance on diagnosing and treating lipoedema. The guidance can be found at the following link:www.lipoedema.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/WUK_Lipoedema-BPS_Web.pdf

Health Services: Finance

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to support healthcare providers through winter 2019 in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Skidmore: The Department is working closely with NHS England and NHS Improvement to support National Health Service healthcare providers ahead of winter. This includes £240 million of funding that has been made available to help patients with adult social care needs leave hospital when ready and free-up hospital capacity.As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave the EU on 31 October.The Department continues to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels in the NHS and we have been monitoring leaver and joiner rates of EU staff on a regular basis since the 2016 referendum. We are not complacent and have plans in place to ensure there will continue to be sufficient staff to deliver the high-quality services on which the public relies. Our overall programme of work is comprehensive, thorough and continuously updated and will stand irrespective of the terms in which the United Kingdom leaves the EU.The Department is also working more broadly with delivery partners to ensure that the health and care system as a whole is prepared and ready to respond to disruption caused by EU exit.

Genetic Engineering

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans NHS England has to implement gene therapy treatments.

Caroline Dinenage: As set out in the NHS Long Term Plan, the National Health Service is committed to supporting the timely introduction of the most clinically and cost effective treatments for patients. Cell and gene therapies have the potential to provide great benefits for patients, and the NHS is leading the world in creating access to these treatments.For example, patients in England were among the first in the world to benefit from CAR T cell therapy, which uses their own immune system to fight cancers. The NHS will also now be funding voretigene neparvovec, also known as Luxturna, a revolutionary form of new treatment for blindness in children.The NHS is working with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and other partners in the Accelerated Access Collaborative to take a proactive approach in preparing for cell and gene therapies and other innovative treatments.

Cystic Fibrosis: Diagnosis

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of making cystic fibrosis checks routine in (a) antenatal care and (b) neonatal care.

Caroline Dinenage: The United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) advises ministers and the National Health Service in the four UK countries about all aspects of screening and supports implementation of screening programmes. All screening programmes are introduced following a robust process using peer reviewed evidence that shows the benefits to screen clearly outweigh harm.Earlier this year, the UK NSC looked at the evidence to offer population screening for cystic fibrosis (CF) in pregnancy and recommended that this should not be introduced. This is because screening during pregnancy would be difficult. Further, there is no new evidence to support screening. Ministers accepted this recommendation.However, the NHS Newborn Blood spot Screening Programme screens for cystic fibrosis in newborn babies alongside eight other conditions. Newborn blood spot screening in England is offered between five and eight days after the baby is born.

Medical Treatments

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to make the stabilisation of conditions such as cystic fibrosis part of the NICE quality of life measurement system and not just extension of life.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cancer: Screening

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure the full NHS People Plan will tackle shortages in the imaging and diagnostic workforce in order to achieve the ambition in the NHS Long Term Plan to increase cancer screening uptake.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2019 to Question 236381, what steps NHS England has taken to fill the gap left by the closure of the Commissioning Support Programme for treatments that are awaiting review by the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on treatments within NHS England’s Clinical Commissioning Policy programme of the closure of the Commissioning Support Programme; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Skidmore: Further to the answer the Minister of State for Care (Caroline Dinenage MP) gave on 2 April 2019 to Question 236381, that NHS England has considered this issue, and does not believe that a gap has been created as a result of the closure of Commissioning Support Programme for treatments that are awaiting review by the Clinical Priorities Advisory Group.The topics that would have been referred to the Commissioning Support Programme will now be routed to the appropriate appraisal programme.All policy propositions relating to topics previously being supported in development through the Commissioning Support Programme have been handed over at the agreed stage for post stakeholder testing. These are now being progressed though the usual development process. Further information is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/methods-national-clinical-policies/

NHS: Pensions

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of requests by NHS professionals to the NHS Business Services Authority to provide them with an accurate and up to date pension statement have been responded to in a timely manner in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Chris Skidmore: The NHS Business Services Authority can provide ‘on demand’ Pension Savings Statements (PSS) to members on request. This is not triggered by a member breaching the annual allowance, but instead by the member requesting a statement. ‘On demand’ statements should be provided by the NHS Business Services Authority by the later of three months from the date of request by the individual or by 6 October following the end of the relevant tax year. However, this is dependent on the NHS Business Services Authority receiving the relevant data from the Employing Authority such as pensionable pay.The NHS Business Services Authority cannot exclusively identify healthcare professionals but confirm that during the period of 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 it provided NHS Pension Scheme members with 17,187 ‘on demand’ PSSs of which 13,393 were completed on time.

Nusinersen

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the appropriateness of the NICE criteria for assessing a patient's access to Spinraza.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the budget is for products undergoing review via the NHS England prioritisation process in 2020-21.

Chris Skidmore: NHS England has not yet been set the budget for products undergoing review via the NHS England prioritisation process in 2020-21.

Parkinson's Disease: Mental Health

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the all-party Parliamentary group on Parkinsons' report entitled, Mental health matters too.

Caroline Dinenage: The guideline on Parkinson’s disease published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in July 2017 includes recommendations on managing depression in Parkinson’s in line with its own best practice guidance on depression in people with chronic health problems.In addition, NHS England commissions the specialised neurological care that people with Parkinson’s disease may need, and it has set out that such specialised care should include access to psychologists to manage symptoms like anxiety and depression.

Hyperactivity: Diagnosis

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2019 to Question 277852 on Hyperactivity: Diagnosis, whether his Department has a timeframe for the exploration of data that can be made accessible via the mental health dataset; and whether that data may include average waiting times for an ADHD diagnosis for (a) children and (b) adults.

Caroline Dinenage: Work to explore what national level data on services for people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) could be made available, including what metrics may be identified, is ongoing. The scoping work is also considering timeframes for making ADHD data available.The Government is committed to supporting people with ADHD to live healthy, independent lives and to participate in their communities. NHS Digital continues to work with the Department and NHS England on the development of access and waiting times reporting for mental health care pathways.

NHS: Computer Software

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2019 to Question 277855, what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of Windows XP machines operating across the NHS that are unable to be updated.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We estimate there are approximately 2,300 machines in the National Health Service currently still operating on Windows XP which is no longer supported by Microsoft. To be compliant with the mandatory Data Security and Protection Toolkit, NHS organisations must operate on supported systems or have plans in place to mitigate the risk such as segregating those machines from the network. There are valid reasons why some machines cannot be upgraded from Windows XP, primarily where they run essential locally developed clinical systems that cannot be upgraded or replaced.We are supporting NHS organisations to upgrade their existing Microsoft Windows operating systems, allowing them to reduce potential vulnerabilities and increase cyber resilience.We signed a multi-million pound contract with Microsoft in 2018 to support the NHS to upgrade their existing Microsoft Windows operating systems onto Windows 10.All health and care organisations that have access to NHS patient data must annually complete NHS Digital’s Data Security and Protection Toolkit. This details the standards we expect them to adhere to and Data Security Standard 8 advocates that no unsupported operating systems, software or internet browsers are used within the IT estate.

Antidepressants: Young People

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the estimated cost is of prescribing anti-depressants to people aged under 21 years old in each year since 2010.

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prescriptions for anti-depressants were issued to (a) children aged under 16 years old, (b) teenagers aged 16-18 years old and (c) young people aged 18-21 years old in each year since 2010.

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) children under 16 years old, (b) teenagers aged 16-18 years old and (c) young people aged 18-21 years old were prescribed anti-depressants in each year since 2010.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The requested information is attached.



PQ284205 prescription data formatted table
(Word Document, 23.52 KB)

Cannabis: Prescriptions

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many prescriptions for medical cannabis have been issued on the NHS since the rescheduling of cannabis based products.

Jo Churchill: NHS England and NHS Improvement are using extant systems to monitor use of the newly rescheduled unlicensed cannabis-based products for medicinal use in England. In England, these systems monitor the number of items dispensed and associated costs in primary care and the volume of products used and associated cost in secondary care. NHS England and NHS Improvement Controlled Drug Accountable Officers are also collecting local intelligence in both the National Health Service and independent sector.The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) is only able to provide information on prescriptions for cannabis-based medicines that have been prescribed and submitted to the NHS Business Services Authority. It does not hold information on prescriptions for cannabis-based medicines which have been issued but not fulfilled.The following table shows the number of items for Nabilone and Sativex (licensed cannabis-based medicines) and unlicensed cannabis-based medicines that were prescribed on a NHS prescription, dispensed in the community and submitted to the NHS Business Services Authority for reimbursement between November 2018 and June 2019.MonthLicensed cannabis-based medicinesUnlicensed cannabis-based medicinesNabiloneSativexNovember 2018461752December 2018491811January 2019441672February 2019361591March 2019511712April 2019491562May 2019591762June 2019471870Total3811,37212 In addition to the above, 185 patients have accessed Epidiolex/Epidyolex though the manufacturer’s (GW Pharma) early access programmes ahead of a licensing decision by the European Medicines Agency.

Dermatology: Staff

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the specialist dermatologist workforce in the NHS.

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2019 to Question 259387, what support and guidance his Department is providing to Wolverhampton CCG and Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust on recruiting more dermatologists.

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Interim NHS People Plan’s conclusions on the recruitment of dermatologists in the NHS.

Chris Skidmore: It is the responsibility of National Health Service trusts to have staffing arrangements in place that deliver safe and effective care. This includes recruiting the appropriate professionals needed to support these levels and meet local needs.Dermatology is a highly competitive specialty training pathway and often oversubscribed. Nationally and locally there has been a 100% fill rate in dermatology training for the past four years. Since 2010, the number of full-time equivalent dermatologists (doctors at the consultant grade) has increased by 26% rising from 464 in May 2010 to 584 in May 2019.The interim NHS People Plan, published on 3 June 2019, puts the workforce at the heart of the NHS and will ensure we have the staff needed to deliver high quality care. In advance of publishing the final People Plan, the NHS will establish a national programme board to address geographical and specialty shortages in medicine.

Dermatology: General Practitioners

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of GPs with a special interest in dermatology.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

NHS: Drugs

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of scrapping Medicines Usage Reviews on people who take multiple medications.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

NHS: Drugs

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what alternative arrangements will be introduced in the new local pharmacy contract to safeguard people taking multiple medications and ensure they receive a regular review of their medication to prevent contraindications.

Jo Churchill: Medicines Usage Reviews (MURs) are adherence centred reviews with the community pharmacist in isolation from the prescriber. The new Structured Medication Reviews, offered by clinical pharmacists working in primary care networks (PCNs), will provide a more comprehensive review of a patient’s medication with access to the patient record and with the greater ability of clinical pharmacists to make independent decisions to change medication, if that is the result of a review. It is expected that community pharmacists and practice-based pharmacists will work closely together to optimise medicines usage.Recently announced changes to the Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework, include a Medicines Reconciliation Service, through which community pharmacists will be expected to collaborate with PCN pharmacists and prescribers, to ensure patients are clear about changes to their medicines, post-discharge, in line with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline on medicines optimisation. The Pharmacy Quality Scheme and the general practice Quality and Outcomes Framework Quality Improvement modules incentivise PCNs and community pharmacy to identify those taking high risk medicines and take actions to reduce risks where appropriate.

NHS: Vacancies

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the NHS will take as part of the forthcoming NHS workforce plan to minimise the vacancy rates of (a) Parkinson’s nurses and (b) other specialist posts.

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure specialist posts such as Parkinson’s nurses are included in the forthcoming NHS workforce plan.

Chris Skidmore: I refer the hon. Member to the answers the then Minister of State for Health (Stephen Hammond MP) gave on 4 July 2019 to Questions 271535 and 271536.

Abortion

Carol Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to publish the numbers of forced abortions by individual NHS trusts.

Carol Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to collect information on the number of forced abortions by individual NHS trust.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department has no plans to centrally collect or publish information on the number of forced abortions by individual National Health Service trusts.

Sudden Adult Death Syndrome: Health Services

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to introduce a national strategy for the prevention of young sudden cardiac death.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

NHS: Finance

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to make additional funding available to NHS trusts and health boards to meet potential additional costs associated with changes to reciprocal healthcare in the event of the UK leaving with EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Skidmore: The Chancellor announced on 1 August that he has made an additional £2.1 billion available to prepare for European Union exit which includes the creation of an Operational Contingency Fund, to meet the costs of ‘no deal’ operations. This fund is available for bids where EU Exit operational costs arise that cannot be met by existing funding settlements.

Health Services: EU Nationals

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether people with active but incomplete applications for settled and pre-settled status will be entitled to free NHS treatment after 31 October 2019.

Chris Skidmore: European Union citizens living in the United Kingdom on or before exit day will remain eligible for free National Health Service care as long as they remain ordinarily resident here. Being ordinarily resident broadly means living here on a lawful and properly-settled basis for the time being.It is not currently necessary for an EU citizen to demonstrate that they have status under the EU Settlement Scheme in order to access the NHS. The European Settlement Scheme secures the residency rights for EU citizens who have been residing in the UK prior to the day we leave the EU. EU citizens already living in the UK on exit day have up until 31 December 2020 to apply for Settled Status, but their access to healthcare will remain the same regardless of whether they apply for Settled Status up to then.

Health Services: EEA Nationals

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what tariff will EEA visitors be charged for NHS services in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: The Government has made it clear that European Union citizens living in the United Kingdom on or before exit day will remain eligible for free National Health Service care as long as they remain ordinarily resident here. Should an EU citizen not be entitled to free NHS care, the Government has announced that they will continue to be charged at 100% of the standard NHS tariff.

Health Services: Northern Ireland

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether doctors and healthcare workers in Northern Ireland will be permitted in the course of their employment to be in possession of medication in the Republic of Ireland in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: Health and care professionals possessing dual registration in Ireland and Northern Ireland will continue to be able to work across the border should we leave the European Union without a deal. Those who are currently able to write prescriptions for both Ireland and Northern Ireland will still be able to do so.

NHS England: Contracts

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many fines have been issued by NHS England to private companies that run contracted services for the NHS as a result of (a) not complying with a contractual agreement and (b) services falling below the standard required in each of the last five years.

Chris Skidmore: Neither the Department nor NHS England holds information on the number of ‘fines’ that have been issued by NHS England to private companies that run contracted services.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many incidents occurred due to estates and infrastructure failures at Northumbria NHS Trust in 2018-19; and what each incident was classified as.

Chris Skidmore: The annual Estates Return Information Collection Data provides information on the number of incidents caused by estates and infrastructure failure which resulted in clinical services being delayed, cancelled or otherwise interfered with owing to problems or failures related to the estates and infrastructure failure. For the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust there were 23 such incidents reported in 2017-18 which is the latest data available. Only the number of incidents is collected, not their classification.

Social Services: Northumberland

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to Northumberland local authority of providing social care to older people in each of the next five years.

Caroline Dinenage: Local authorities are accountable to their local communities, and responsible for improving their own performance and services.The Government is providing £1.5 billion new funding for adult’s and children’s social care for 2020/21. This includes: - A £1 billion grant that can be used to improve social care for older people, people with disabilities and children; and- A 2% precept that will enable councils to access a further £500 million for adult social care. This additional funding will support local authorities in meeting rising demand and will continue to help stabilise the social care system. The Government has set out the funding for local government in 2020/21. A multi-year Spending Review is due in 2020.

NHS: Drugs

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Medicines Usage Reviews have taken place in each year since their introduction.

Jo Churchill: This data has been extracted from the relevant editions of the National Statistics: ‘General Pharmaceutical Services’ for England, which is published on an annual basis by NHS Digital and compares a rolling 10 years data: 2005/06: 148,1952006/07: 559,3152007/08: 951,3582008/09: 1,397,3192009/10: 1,707,1392010/11: 2,108,6042011/12: 2,434,1282012/13: 2,820,4152013/14: 3,081,1082014/15: 3,183,0942015/16: 3,313,3092016/17: 3,368,0052017/18: 3,381,4412018/19: Not yet published

Parkinson's Disease: Drugs

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Medicines Usage Reviews have been undertaken for people with Parkinson's in each year since their introduction.

Jo Churchill: Since 2014, community pharmacy contractors have been required to conduct 70% of the Medicines Use Reviews (MURs) that they undertake on the following target groups and data is collected accordingly:- Patients taking high-risk medicines (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, anticoagulants, antiplatelets and diuretics);- Patients recently discharged from hospital;- Patients prescribed a respiratory drug, as specified; and- Patients regularly prescribed four or more medicines, at least one of which is for a risk of cardiovascular disease, as specified.Specific data is not collected on the remaining 30% and so it is not possible to say how many people taking medicines for Parkinson’s disease have received an MUR.

NHS: Drugs

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the impact assessment for Medicines Usage Reviews not being included in the new community pharmacy contract.

Jo Churchill: In line with other measures around releasing sensitive data in internal Impact Assessments, the final Impact Assessment produced in July 2019 in respect of the new Community Pharmacy Contractual Framework, which did include material relating to ending Medicines Usage Reviews, is not being published at this time.

Department of Health and Social Care: Devolution

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what further steps he will take to increase co-operation between his Department and the devolved Administrations.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department continues to work closely with its counterparts in the devolved administrations. There is regular Ministerial engagement across the four nations, involving the health ministers from the Welsh and Scottish Governments and the Permanent Secretary of the Northern Ireland Department of Health. Detailed and extensive collaboration between officials across the four nations is continuing, with engagement across a full range of policy issues.

Skin Diseases: Medical Treatments

Alberto Costa: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the adequacy of provision of treatment for people with inflammatory skin conditions.

Caroline Dinenage: The majority of patients with inflammatory skin conditions are managed in primary and community care and the local National Health Service is best placed to make decisions that ensure services meet the needs of resident populations in the most appropriate way. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published evidence-based best practice guidance for clinicians and commissioners on a range of inflammatory skin conditions, including eczema and psoriasis. The guidance sets out a range of treatment approaches to the management of inflammatory skin conditions including drug-based approaches, as recommended by NICE.

Nutrition: Health Education

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to maintain the Eatwell Guide in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Healthy Start Scheme: Overpayments

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many parents have been assessed as having been overpaid in Healthy Start vouchers as a result of ceasing to be eligible for universal credit payments in the last 12 months for which information is available.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Healthy Start Scheme

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing staff and volunteers from (a) schools, (b) libraries and (c) community organisations to distribute and sign parents' application forms for healthy start vouchers to increase the take-up of those vouchers.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Anaemia and Gastritis: Health Services

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to make be an announcement on the updating of the NICE guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of (a) pernicious anaemia and (b) autoimmune metaplastic atrophic gastritis.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Dialysis Machines: British Nationals Abroad

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with his European counterparts to ensure that British residents can access dialysis when travelling to countries (a) within the EU and (b) which have existing health agreements with the EU.

Chris Skidmore: The Government has proposed to all European Union Member States that when we leave, we should maintain the existing healthcare arrangements until 31 December 2020, with the aim of minimising disruption to healthcare provision for United Kingdom nationals and EU citizens.A number of member states, including Spain and Belgium, have already prepared legislation that will protect the healthcare rights of UK nationals travelling and living in-country after 31 October 2019.

Mental Health Services

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to modernise the NHS mental health estate.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Improving mental health is at the heart of this Government’s agenda and the sustainability and transformation partnerships (STP) capital investment is another step in the Government’s ambition to achieve greater parity between physical and mental health care.The Government has announced investments of over £400 million in improving mental health estate since July 2017. Most recently this included £72.3 million for Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust to develop a new adult mental health inpatient unit and £33 million to Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust for a 40-bed low secure unit for people with learning disabilities, both of which were included in the £850 million capital funding for 20 hospital upgrades announced by the Prime Minister on 5 August.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase access to CAMHS assessments.

Ms Nadine Dorries: In 2017/18, around 30.5% of children and young people then estimated to have a mental health condition were able to benefit from treatment and support, up from an estimated 25% two years earlier. Continuing to expand access to children’s mental health services is a priority for this Government, and a core part of the NHS Long Term Plan. The National Health Service has set an ambitious goal of an extra 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 receiving support via NHS-funded mental health services by 2023/24.NHS England published its Mental Health Implementation Plan in July 2019, setting out its plans for delivering its Long Term Plan goals. Although data is not available for the number of children and young people attending specifically for an assessment, the most recent data (July 2019) is that 377,866 children and young people were in contact with services in 2018/19 (data covers 288 providers) and received two clinically meaningful contacts (NHS England’s current proxy for entering treatment). This compares to 324,724 children and young people that were in contact with services in 2017/18 (data covered 225 providers).

Insulin

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that an adequate supply of insulin is available in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that we should be fully prepared for leaving on 31 October, and that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave the EU on 31 October.The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medicines and medical products, including insulin, to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies.On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October.Further details can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans

NHS: Staff

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he will bring forward legislative proposals to codify in law accountability for workforce supply and planning throughout the health and care system.

Chris Skidmore: Through the Care Act of 2014, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care has delegated his powers to Health Education England (HEE) to support the delivery of excellent healthcare and health improvement for patients and the public in England, by ensuring that the current and future National Health Service workforce has the right numbers of staff with the right skills, values and behaviours at the right time and in the right place to meet patient needs.The Care Act 2014 sets out HEE’s remit and range of roles and responsibilities in detail, including its duty to ensure an effective system for education and training for the NHS and public health.

Mental Health Act 1983 Independent Review

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress the Government has made on implementing the recommendations of the Independent Review of the Mental Health Act 1983.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We will publish a White Paper by the end of the year, which will set out the Government’s response, in full, to the independent review of the mental health act, and pave the way for new legislation.We remain committed to reforming mental health law and will develop and bring forward legislation when Parliamentary time allows.On the day of publication, we accepted two important recommendations that will give people more choice and control, and in June we accepted further recommendations made by the review, to tackle the disproportionate number of people from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups who are detained under the Act, including a serious of culturally appropriate advocacy pilots, and further steps to end the use of police stations as a place of safety once and for all.The NHS Long Term Plan has already set out action to improve crisis care and community mental health services, in line with the review’s recommendations to improve community provision of people with serious mental illness.

Parkinson's Disease: Research

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the Government's policy is on funding for research into Parkinson’s disease and mental health.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is funding research on higher rates of (a) anxiety and (b) depression in people with Parkinson’s.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including Parkinson’s disease and mental health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. Information on individual projects funded by the NIHR can be found at the following link:https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/NIHR support for research into Parkinson’s was nearly £15 million since 2015. This includes studies looking specifically at Parkinson’s and mental health such as the ‘Antidepressants Trial in Parkinson’s Disease (ADepT-PD)’ and the ‘Personalised Care for People with Parkinson’s Disease: PD Care’ study. NIHR infrastructure has supported 169 studies into Parkinson’s disease since 2015.

Cystic Fibrosis: Children

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to promote exercise as a means to enhance the lives of children with cystic fibrosis.

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access to exercise programmes for children with cystic fibrosis.

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the role of programmes run by not-for-profit organisations in improving the wellbeing of children with cystic fibrosis.

Caroline Dinenage: Whilst no assessment has been made of the role of programmes run by not-for-profit organisations or the adequacy of access to exercise programmes in improving the wellbeing of children with cystic fibrosis (CF); the Government very much recognises and values the contribution of the voluntary sector in working locally to support local communities.For example, the Cystic Fibrosis Trust has launched Activity Unlimited to help everyone with CF to stay active and take control of their physical health and wellbeing. More information is available at the following link:www.cysticfibrosis.org.uk/what-is-cystic-fibrosis/cystic-fibrosis-care/staying-active

Preventive Medicine: Children

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to promote the role of the third sector in preventing health and wellbeing problems in children.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Telemedicine

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will extend the NHS’ post-hospital discharge digital bag project to other areas in England beyond Lancashire and South Cumbria.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Digital Discharge Bag project is currently being supported by the Department through the local Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs). The AHSNs integrate the work of academia, industry and the National Health Service to accelerate the development, adoption and spread of innovative ideas and technologies across the system. If the product proves its clinical and cost effectiveness, we would expect to see it widely adopted across the system - in line with the Accelerated Access Collaborative’s aim to make the best treatments and technologies available to patients regardless of where they live.

Telemedicine

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the (a) range and (b) quality of digital NHS healthcare services offered to patients.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We have established a new unit – NHSX – to drive forward the digital transformation of health and social care, and give patients the tools to access online information and services safely and effectively.We are providing a coreset of national digital services for people to transact with the health and care system and find information.Innovators can build onto these services for a consistent, trusted and joined up digital experience.NHSX will also define and mandate technology and design standards for digital services used within the NHS and social care, ensuring all publicly-funded source code is open by default.

Prescriptions

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will commission an investigation on recent trends in the number of prescriptions being split between more than one paper prescription; and what assessment he has made of the effect on the NHS drugs budget of such practices.

Jo Churchill: The Prescription Cost Analysis data, which is published by the NHS Business Services Authority, shows that overall the number of prescription items in primary care has been fairly stable over the last few years giving no indication that prescription items, which could be issued for a longer time period, are being split between multiple prescriptions. There could be valid reasons for prescribing a shorter period of treatment, for example when the medicine is first initiated. The cost of prescribed drugs is met by the prescriber’s clinical commissioning group (CCG). Prescribing the same quantity of a medicine over time for people with a long-term condition, even if prescription duration varies, has largely a neutral effect on National Health Service drug budgets held by CCGs.

Mental Health Services

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department’s proposed new neurodiversity unit plans to take to ensure that the needs of neurodivergent people are met across the Government.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government is committed to supporting people with neurodevelopmental conditions to live well.We are currently reviewing the adult autism strategy and, working with the Department for Education, will be extending the scope of the strategy to include children. The refreshed strategy will be published by the end of the year.We are also working closely with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and their Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Implementation Working Group to look at how the current NICE guidance and quality standard on ADHD are being implemented. This work includes looking to identify best practice and examples of innovation, which have improved outcomes for people with ADHD, so that these can be widely disseminated to commissioners to improve local practice.We are considering what additional actions can be taken to support those with other neurodevelopmental conditions to ensure that their needs are met.

Drugs: Imports

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent preparations his Department has made to ensure the supply of medicines will be maintained from the EU to the UK in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave the EU.The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medicines to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies. On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October. Further details can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans

Social Services

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that people with experience of using adult social care are involved in the design and provision of such services.

Caroline Dinenage: Over the last four years, around 65% of service users were extremely or very satisfied with their care and support in England and 84% of adult social care settings are rated as good or outstanding (September 2019).The Care Act 2014 recognises that everyone’s needs for care and support are different, and these needs can be met in many different ways. Whilst commissioning social care is a matter for local authorities who are best placed to understand the needs of local people and communities, and how best to meet them, people must be genuinely involved and influential throughout the care planning process. They should be given every opportunity to take joint ownership of the development of their care plan with the local authority, if they wish.

Hormone Replacement Therapy: Shortages

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prevent a shortage of hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women.

Jo Churchill: The Department fully understands that maintaining access to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) medications is vitally important to many people in this country.We are aware of ongoing supply issues with some HRT preparations due to manufacturing issues. We have been working closely with all suppliers of HRT medicines to maintain overall supply to patients. Although some HRT products are affected by supply issues, supplies of several other alternative HRT products remain available.We are working with all stakeholders to ensure relevant information about the HRT products affected by supply issues and the products that remain available are shared across the National Health Service.We will continue to work directly with all suppliers of the affected and alternative products to resolve the supply issues as soon as possible and ensure supplies of HRT products continue to remain available.

Radiotherapy

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the availability of ongoing radiotherapy treatment in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave EU on 31 October.The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medical products, including those for use in radiotherapy, to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies.As with our plans leading up to 29 March, for those medicines that cannot be stockpiled because, for example, they have short shelf-lives, such as medical radioisotopes for use in radiotherapy, we have asked suppliers to make alternative arrangements, using airfreight, which some suppliers are already doing now. We have offered support to companies to arrange this.On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October.Further details can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans

Social Services

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what his timescale is for publication of a Green Paper on social care.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government will set out its plans to fix the crisis in social care once and for all to give every older person the dignity and security that they deserve. We will set out our proposals in due course.

Bowel Cancer: Screening

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to (a) introduce the timetable for lowering the bowel cancer screening age to 50 and (b) increase the sensitivity of the faecal immunochemical test.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Haematology: Enfield Southgate

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many haematological Clinical Nurse Specialists there are in Enfield Southgate constituency in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Chris Skidmore: The Department does not hold the information requested.

General Practitioners: Enfield Southgate

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information he holds on the average number of GP appointments available to patients in Enfield Southgate constituency each month.

Jo Churchill: We do not hold this information centrally and Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group has advised that it does not collect data on the average number of general practitioner appointments available to patients in the area.

Abortion: Down's Syndrome

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the factors involved in decisions to terminate a pregnancy following a diagnosis of Down's Syndrome.

Caroline Dinenage: No specific assessment has made of the factors involved in decisions to terminate a pregnancy following a diagnosis of Down's Syndrome. Under the 1967 Abortion Act, abortion is legally available where two doctors agree that ‘there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities to be seriously handicapped’. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has published guidance on Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality in England, Scotland and Wales, which can be viewed online at the following link:https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/guidelines/termination-of-pregnancy-for-fetal-abnormality-in-england-scotland-and-wales/This guidance assists doctors and other health professionals to support women and their families when a fetal abnormality is diagnosed and to help women to decide, within the bounds of the law, whether or not to have an abortion.

Health Services: Reciprocal Arrangements

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to replicate European Health Insurance Card reciprocal arrangements after the UK leaves the EU.

Chris Skidmore: The Government has proposed to all European Union Member States that when we leave, we should maintain the existing healthcare arrangements including the European Healthcare Insurance Card (EHIC) Scheme until 31 December 2020, with the aim of minimising disruption to healthcare provision for United Kingdom nationals and EU citizens. This is subject to negotiations, which are ongoing.In the event that we cannot reach an agreement with EU Member States, EHICs may no longer be valid after exit day. It is not possible for the UK Government to guarantee access unilaterally to healthcare abroad, as this depends on decisions by Member States.The Government has always advised UK nationals to take out comprehensive travel insurance when going overseas, both to EU and non-EU destinations. This will remain our advice in all circumstances.

Drugs: Misuse

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the prevalence of use of smart drugs.

Jo Churchill: No assessment has been made of the prevalence of the use of smart drugs.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made on discussions and planning among his Department, NHS England, Public Health England and local authorities on ensuring the routine commissioning of PrEP.

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of funding PrEP from April 2020 through the public health functions agreement (Section 7A).

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress is being made on PrEP being routinely commissioned for all who need it.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Autism: Mental Health Services

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing tailored mental health services for people diagnosed with autism.

Caroline Dinenage: The National Autistic Society estimates that around 70-80% of autistic people will develop a mental health condition at some point in their lives. It is therefore critical that autistic people have equitable access to mental health services, with reasonable adjustments made where appropriate.On 5 December 2018, the Government announced that we will be launching a comprehensive review of our autism strategy, ‘Think Autism’. This is to ensure it remains fit for purpose. The Government wants an autism strategy that works for all autistic people, and that is why, working very closely with the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care will be extending the strategy to include children.Under the NHS Long Term Plan, there will be a comprehensive expansion of mental health services, with an additional £2.3 billion in real terms by 2023/24. This will give 380,000 more adults access to psychological therapies and 345,000 more children and young people greater support in the next five years. The National Health Service will also roll out new waiting times to ensure rapid access to mental health services in the community for those that need it and expand crisis care.

Autism: Health Services

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to implement the recommendations in the report entitled, A spectrum of obstacles, published by the Westminster Commission on Autism in July 2016.

Caroline Dinenage: We are committed to ensuring that autistic people have equitable access to services, recognising the health inequalities they currently experience.We are reviewing our autism strategy to ensure it remains fit for purpose and we are extending it to include children.To inform our review we launched a national call for evidence, which closed on 16 May. This will help us understand what is working and where we need to push harder to transform the experiences of autistic people. We received over 2,700 responses and will be publishing the revised strategy later this year.We also launched a consultation on proposals to introduce mandatory awareness training for learning disability and autism to ensure health and care staff have the knowledge and skills to deliver safe, compassionate and informed care. This closed on 26 April and we received around 5,000 responses which we are now considering. We will publish our response to the consultation shortly.

Schools: Dental Health

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of requiring all primary schools and maintained nurseries in England to provide dental packs and teeth cleaning lessons to children.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

NHS: Drugs

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with (a) Barts Health NHS Trust, (b) East London NHS Foundation Trust, and (c) NHS Newham Clinical Commissioning Group on the adequacy of stocks of medicines for Newham residents in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave the EU on 31 October.The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medicines to the whole of the UK and its Crown Dependencies.On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October. Further details can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans

Accident and Emergency Departments: North West

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average annual waiting times were for each A&E department in (a) Wirral, b) Merseyside and c) the North West in each of the last five years.

Chris Skidmore: This information is not available in the format requested.

Mental Health: Terminology

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will review the language employed across Government to describe mental health (a) policies, (b) posts and (c) services to ensure that the terminology used is (i) appropriate, (ii) inclusive and (iii) non-judgemental.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We recognise the important of language and the impact inappropriate language can have. There are numerous resources available which provide clear guidance on appropriate language and reporting on mental health, such as Time to Change, Mind and Rethink. The Department strives to involve service users and people with lived experience of mental health issues as one way of ensuring the language used is appropriate, and easily understood.The Department leads an Inter-Ministerial Group for Mental Health, which works across Government departments to ensure that every area of Government is addressing mental health consistently and compassionately. We continue to work to ensure policies across Government are addressing the needs of people with mental health problems and those at risk of poor mental health.

Mental Health Services: Children

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to include (a) practice-based evidence and (b) randomised controlled trials in Government-commissioned research on the mental health needs of children.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department funds health and care research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including on children’s mental health. These applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.The NIHR funds high quality clinical trials including randomised controlled trials and health services delivery research to provide practice-based evidence through programmes such as the Health Services and Delivery Research Programme and Health Technology Assessment Programme.

Mental Health Act 1983 Independent Review

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish a White Paper in response to Professor Sir Simon Wessely's Independent Review of the Mental Health Act.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We announced in June that the Government will publish a White Paper by the end of the year.The White Paper will set out the Government’s response, in full, to the independent review of the Mental Health Act, and will pave the way for new legislation.We remain committed to reforming mental health law and will develop and bring forward legislation when Parliamentary time allows.

Mental Health Services: Children

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support the (a) behavioural and (b) emotional development of babies; and if he will make it his policy to prioritise early intervention strategies during pregnancy and early childhood to support children's mental health.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Mental Health Services: Children

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the (a) equity of levels of funding for children's mental health services in the NHS Long Term Plan and (b) the (i) accountability and (ii) transparency of financial audits of the NHS Long Term Plan; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Expanding access to children’s mental health services is a priority for this Government, and a core part of the NHS Long Term Plan. The National Health Service has set an ambitious goal of an extra 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 receiving support via NHS-funded mental health services by 2023/24 and we are providing an additional £1.4 billion to improve specialist children and young people’s mental health services between 2015-21. The Long Term Plan sets out the NHS’s commitment to grow investment in mental health services faster than the NHS budget overall for each of the next five years, and to grow funding for children and young people’s mental health services faster than both overall NHS funding and total mental health spending.From 2018/19, clinical commissioning groups are also required to have their delivery of the Standard independently audited and to publish the results of this audit on their websites.

NHS: Brexit

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to support NHS providers who do not have full contingency plans in place if the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave the EU on 31 October.The Department is implementing a multi-layered approach, which consists of stockpiling where possible, securing freight capacity, changing or clarifying regulatory requirements, procuring additional warehousing, working closely with industry to improve trader readiness and putting in place the National Supply Disruption Response to manage potential shortages.As part of this we are working closely with partners across the health and care system and industry, including the National Health Service and NHS Supply Chain, on robust preparations for EU exit.

Health Services: EU Nationals

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how his Department plans to communicate changes in reciprocal healthcare arrangements to EU nationals in the UK in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure EU nationals are aware of the requirement to provide evidence that they live in the UK on a lawful basis to access healthcare in the UK in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Skidmore: The Department is working closely with other Government departments and the National Health Service to ensure that European Union citizens are aware of the requirements to access healthcare in the event of the United Kingdom leaving the EU without a deal. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has a large-scale public information campaign setting out what business and the public need to know as we prepare to leave the EU. Further guidance and information will be published in due course.We have published the following guidance on GOV.UK at the following links:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-for-eu-and-efta-citizens-visiting-the-ukhttps://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-for-eu-and-efta-nationals-living-in-the-uk

Health Services: EU Nationals

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether doctors will be required to determine a patient's eligibility for healthcare in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Skidmore: Doctors will not be required to determine patient’s entitlement for free National Health Service healthcare in any European Union exit scenario. A clinician’s role is to provide the relevant healthcare for patients and make decisions on their treatment based on their clinical needs. Clinicians will at times be required to make a decision on whether treatment is immediately necessary, urgent or can safely wait until the individual leaves the United Kingdom for those patients identified as not eligible for NHS-funded care, as this will determine when payment has to be taken.

Health Services: Northern Ireland

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to minimise disruption to (a) patients, (b) health workers and (c) health services in Northern Ireland in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Skidmore: To minimise disruption to patients, the Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medical products to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies in the event of leaving the European Union without a deal.The Department continues to implement a multi-layered approach to minimise supply disruption. These plans echo and enhance the plans that were in place ahead of March/April.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for a child and adolescent mental health services referral by clinical commissioning group in England.

Ms Nadine Dorries: There is currently no overall waiting time standard for children and young people’s mental health services and therefore this information is not collected centrally. However, there are two waiting time standards which apply to specific areas. The first standard is for young people’s eating disorder services, which is that urgent cases should be seen within one week and non-urgent cases within four weeks. The latest data (for quarter 4 of 2018/19) shows that 80.6 % of children and young people with eating disorders were seen within one week (urgent) and 82.4 % of children and young people with eating disorders were seen within four weeks (routine).The second standard is for first episode of psychosis, where a patient should be seen within two weeks. This standard was met in 75.3% of cases although the data refers to patients of all ages and is not available by age group.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Andrew Griffiths: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the average waiting time is for access to cognitive behavioural therapy and talking therapy for under 18 year olds, by clinical commissioning group.

Ms Nadine Dorries: This information is not collected centrally.

General Practitioners: Greater London

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the survey by the Royal College of General Practitioners on access to GPs, published December 2018, what assessment he has made of the effect of staff shortages and surgery closures on access to GPs in (a) London and (b) Hounslow Borough.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

General Practitioners: Greater London

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of GP to patient ratios in each London borough.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Health Services: Greater London

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of funding allocated to each Care Commissioning Groups in each borough of London in each of the last ten years.

Chris Skidmore: Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) were created in April 2013, therefore information is not available prior to that date. Each London CCG is named after the borough it serves. London CCG allocations for 2013/14 onwards are shown in the attached table, including the proportion of the total London allocation that this equates to.



PQ284916 London CCG Allocations 2013 onwards
(Excel SpreadSheet, 37.43 KB)

Disability: Greater London

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of residents with a DDA disability in (a) London and (b) Hounslow Borough.

Caroline Dinenage: This data is not held by the Department. However, estimates for number of people who are disabled are available from the Annual Population Survey (APS) from the Office for National Statistics.The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) has now been repealed and replaced by the Equality Act 2010 (EA). Therefore, the APS no longer uses the DDA as its basis for interviewing people regarding their disability, instead using the definition under the EA.For the 12 month period ending in March 2019, the estimated proportion of people aged between 16 and 64 years who were disabled under the EA definition in London and Hounslow Borough were 15.0% and 17.7% respectively.

Radon Gas: Lung Cancer

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) diagnoses of and (b) deaths from radon-related lung cancer there have been since 2010 in each Care Commissioning Group.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cannabis: Prescriptions

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will produce a cross-government plan for the issuing of medicinal cannabis under prescription by the end of 2019.

Jo Churchill: The Department will continue to work closely with other Departments to implement the Government’s policy on access to cannabis-based products for medicinal use; to work with researchers, the industry and others to improve the evidence base for these products; to ensure product availability; and to provide clinicians with guidance on prescribing these products where clinically appropriate.

Department of Health and Social Care: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Caroline Dinenage: The information requested is shown in the following table:  Subsistence (including refreshments) (£)Ministerial First-Class Travel (£)Ministerial Standard Class Travel (£)Financial year 2017-18230,667.190.009,031.77Financial year 2018-19536,374.280.0025,149.61Total767,041.470.0034,181.38

Department of Health and Social Care: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Caroline Dinenage: The information requested is shown in the following table:  Subsistence (including refreshments) (£)Ministerial First-Class Travel (£)Ministerial Standard Class Travel (£)Financial year 2017-18230,667.190.009,031.77Financial year 2018-19536,374.280.0025,149.61Total767,041.470.0034,181.38

Hospitals: Admissions

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that the findings and best practice of the Elective Care Transformation Programme are implemented in local services.

Chris Skidmore: The Elective Care Transformation Programme has developed best practice tools from a number of workstreams from 2017. This includes service specifications and mobilisation plans alongside support events and tools to aid implementation at a local level.The programme has established reporting systems with NHS England and NHS Improvement regional teams to provide assurance and support with implementation. The Elective Care Community of Practice enables local systems to share learning about Elective Care Transformation and provides a platform for further engagement and support for local implementation.

NHS: Pensions

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made on the consultation into flexibility in the NHS Pension Scheme.

Chris Skidmore: The Department will shortly be consulting on proposals to provide increased flexibility to senior clinicians in the NHS Pension Scheme. As announced by my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care on 7 August, the new consultation will provide flexibilities which go beyond the previous 50:50 option by enabling pension accrual and contribution rates to be varied – for example 20:20, 40:40 or 70:70.The new proposals will allow senior clinicians to maximise their contribution to the National Health Service without unexpected tax penalties and whilst sustaining growth in their pension savings.We intend to publish the consultation in week commencing 9 September.The Government recognises the urgency in tackling this issue, so NHS Employers published guidance last week on possible local approaches that employers can consider taking immediately to mitigate the impact of pension tax on their workforce this tax year.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis: Prescriptions

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether patients with pulmonary fibrosis are entitled to free prescriptions.

Jo Churchill: Pulmonary fibrosis is currently not a medical condition that is covered by the National Health Service Medical Exemption Certificate, and therefore this condition does not automatically entitle people to free prescriptions.However, extensive arrangements are in place to help people afford NHS prescriptions. These include a broad range of NHS prescription charge exemptions, such as free prescriptions for the individuals aged 60 and over, for which someone with pulmonary fibrosis may qualify.People on a low income, who do not qualify for an exemption, may be eligible for full or partial help with prescription charges through application to the NHS Low Income Scheme.To support those with greatest need who do not qualify for an exemption or the NHS Low Income Scheme, prescription prepayment certificates are available. A holder of a 12-month certificate can get all the prescriptions they need for just £2 per week.

Infant Foods

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To as the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2019 to Question 247997 on Infant Foods, if he will publish the (a) content discussed and (b) decisions made in the meetings his Department has had with representatives of the formula milk industry in (i) 2018 and (ii) 2019.

Jo Churchill: The content discussed at the meetings is set out in the following table. No decisions were taken at any of these meetings. DateOrganisationContent discussed26 February 2018NestlePresentation on action on sustainable diets28 March 2018Singapore Government and trade delegationGeneral discussion on Infant formula25 April 2018Danone and NutricaEarly Years Nutrition Partnership6 June 2018British Specialist Nutrition Association (BSNA), Nestle, NutricaNotifications for Foods for Special Medical Purposes22 June 2018NestlePlanning for visit4 July 2018NestleVisit11 July 2018DanoneAptamil30 July 2018DanoneChildhood Obesity Chapter 214 August 2018NestleChildhood Obesity Chapter 222 August 2018BSNAEU exit preparation10 September 2018Danone and NestleAdvertising roundtable14 November 2018BSNANutrition legislation meeting15 November 2018DanoneReformulation, Brexit pressure, and Chapter 222 November 2018BSNAForthcoming CODEX CCNFSDU40

Food

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the (a) dates, (b) attendees and (c) topics of meetings his Department has had with representatives of the food and drink industry in (i) 2018 and (ii) 2019; and if he will publish the (A) content discussed and (B) decisions made in those meetings.

Jo Churchill: The attached table shows meetings between Departmental officials and representatives of the food and drink industry in 2018 and 2019 and the content discussed. The names of Senior Civil Servants and external attendees at an equivalent or higher grade from these organisations are provided, and the job title of attendees below this grade. No decisions were taken at any of these meetings.



PQ285232 table
(Word Document, 36.23 KB)

Social Services

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that there is parity of esteem between health and social care.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government remains committed to achieving parity of esteem for staff working in health and social care.One of the ways we are doing this is to showcase how rewarding and varied social care careers can be, with opportunities for progression and professional development. That is one of the reasons why the Government launched the ‘Every Day is Different’ national adult social care recruitment campaign. We are making a bigger investment this year to build on the success and progress made last year and a new campaign will be launched in the autumn.We know that there is more that we can do to support recruitment, retention and working conditions for social care workers and we will set out our proposals in due course.

Bowel Cancer: Screening

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will lower the screening age for bowel cancer from 60 to 50 years of age.

Jo Churchill: NHS England has committed, in the Long Term Plan, to modernise bowel cancer screening by lowering the starting age from 60 to 50. NHS England is currently in the process of planning for delivery of the Long Term Plan commitment to modernise the Bowel Cancer Screening Programmes.Professor Sir Mike Richards is considering the future position of bowel cancer screening as part of his independent review of adult screening, due to report in September. The timetable for extensions to the FIT bowel screening programme will be taken forward in the context of his recommendations.

Learning Disability: Nurses

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to facilitate training for learning disability nurses.

Caroline Dinenage: Earlier this year, the Department ran a consultation which sought views on the introduction of mandatory learning disability and autism training for all health and care staff in England. The proposals set out in the consultation aim to ensure that staff working in health and social care have the right training, skills and knowledge to understand the needs of people with learning disabilities and autistic people and to provide them the safest, most effective and compassionate care and support.Whilst the proposed training would be mandatory for all health and care staff who work with people with learning disabilities or autistic people, the level of training would vary depending on the individual’s role.We will respond to the consultation and announce our next steps shortly.

Blood Cancer: Enfield Southgate

Bambos Charalambous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what mental health support is available for people who have been diagnosed with blood cancer in Enfield Southgate constituency.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Each clinical commissioning group (CCG) is responsible for commissioning local services, including mental health services, on behalf of their local populations taking into account local needs and priorities. For the year 2018/19, overall spend on mental health services in the Enfield CCG area was £64.6 million.The Government is committed to ensuring that all those who need support with their mental health, whatever their circumstances, are able to access the services they require in a timely manner based on their clinical need.To support this, we have increased spending on mental health to a record £12.5 billion in 2018/19. In addition, the NHS Long Term Plan committed at least a further £2.3 billion a year to mental health services by 2023/24. This investment will transform and expand services for people with mental health conditions, building on our current targets.

General Practitioners: Standards

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy ofwaiting times for GP appointments.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electronic Cigarettes: Health Education

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of NHS guidance on vaping.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Health Services: British Nationals Abroad

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of UK nationals in EU countries who will potentially face increased healthcare costs in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: The Government has proposed to all European Union Member States that when we leave, we should maintain the existing healthcare arrangements until 31 December 2020, with the aim of minimising disruption to healthcare provision for United Kingdom nationals and EU citizens.After the UK leaves the EU, the majority of UK nationals who currently live or work in EU Member States will still have options for accessing healthcare under local rules. Depending on the country, it will generally be possible to access healthcare through legal residency, current or previous employment, or through joining a social insurance scheme and contributing a percentage of their income as other residents need to do. Some people may need to purchase private health insurance while applying or if they are not eligible for local schemes.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to engage the BAME community with and increase their access to the PrEP impact trial.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress he has made with NHS England, Public Health England and local authorities in ensuring PrEP is routinely commissioned.

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of funding PrEP through section 7A funding from April 2020.

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, from what date PrEP will be commissioned routinely.

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress is being made in PrEP being routinely commissioned.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Medical Treatments

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to maintain medical and drug supplies to the UK in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave the EU on 31 October.The Department is implementing a multi-layered approach, which consists of stockpiling where possible, securing freight capacity, changing or clarifying regulatory requirements, procuring additional warehousing, working closely with industry to improve trader readiness and putting in place the National Supply Disruption Response to manage potential shortages.

Maternity Services: Down's Syndrome

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of developing a care pathway for women who choose to continue their pregnancy after a positive result for Down's Syndrome.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department asked the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) to consider developing a care pathway for women who choose to continue their pregnancy after a positive result for Down's Syndrome. The RCOG is currently reviewing their clinical guidelines, and guidance for the care of women through antenatal screening and further diagnostic testing is planned for publication on the RCOG website at the end of the month.In addition, the RCOG is looking to commission further advice which will aim to support decision making around choices after the diagnosis of fetal anomaly in pregnancy, ensuring results are provided in a non-directive way and to guide clinicians in providing high quality care for women to support the choices they make.The RCOG is also working on a position statement to ensure its members clearly understand the importance of providing impartial support and options to women and their partners throughout antenatal screening through to diagnostic results and beyond.

Genetics: Screening

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will consider conducting a consultation on the ethical implications of non-invasive prenatal testing.

Caroline Dinenage: Following the United Kingdom National Screening Committee’s (UK NSC’s) recommendation to evaluate the introduction of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) as a contingent test into the NHS Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme (FASP), the Nuffield Council on Bioethics undertook a considerable amount of work on bioethics particularly related to the addition of NIPT into the NHS FASP screening pathway.The Council published a report in March 2017 which looked at the ethical, legal and regulatory implications of recent and potential future developments in NIPT. Their work included a consultation of views on offering screening for Down’s syndrome which was carried out with a small group of people from the Down’s syndrome community supported by the learning disability charity Mencap.The UK NSC acknowledged the importance of the ethical considerations of screening and has set up an ethics task group to provide further scrutiny and advice to the committee.

Rare Diseases: Drugs

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on the regulatory processes for new medicines for rare conditions.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Medicines and Healthcare products regulatory Agency (MHRA), as with all of Government has been working hard to ensure that the United Kingdom is fully prepared for European Union exit under any circumstance. The potential effect that the UK leaving the EU without a deal will have on the regulatory processes for new medicines for rare conditions is being mitigated with clear guidance and close engagement with industry to ensure plans are relevant and fit for purpose.Following a public consultation last year, the MHRA has legislated to ensure a smooth transition to national provisions for human medicines, including those for rare diseases. Indeed, for medicines for rare diseases the UK will offer incentives, some fees will be waived, with others fully or partially refunded, to encourage the development and marketing of such medicines.

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the capacity requirements for the Medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency after the UK leaves the EU.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has assessed the capacity that will be required in both a deal and a ‘no deal’ European Union exit scenario. This is based on scrutiny of resource and careful assessment of the Agency’s ability to support the pharmaceutical and medical device industries.Any gaps in resource have been identified by the agency, and sufficiently addressed. In the case of a ‘no deal’ scenario, the Agency has developed and is prepared to implement a new IT system that will sufficiently support industry to continue to operate in a smooth transition. The Agency continues to engage industry to ensure any concerns are addressed and that appropriate transparency is maintained.

European Reference Networks

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that UK participation in European Reference Networks continues after the UK leaves the EU.

Caroline Dinenage: The United Kingdom will be leaving the European Union on 31 October whatever the circumstances. We would prefer to leave with a deal and we will work in an energetic and determined way to get that better deal. The details of this partnership, including participation in the European Reference Networks, will be a matter for negotiation with the EU after we leave. We are preparing for that negotiation and will work with a wide range of partners to ensure a successful outcome for UK business and citizens.

Hepatitis

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure people who are in contact with drug treatment services are tested for hepatitis C.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Hepatitis: Health Services

Jeff Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people were treated for hepatitis C in England in the financial year 2018-19.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Autism: Suicide

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in suicide rates among people diagnosed with autism; what steps his Department is taking to reduce those suicide rates; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Nadine Dorries: An assessment has not been made as information on trends in suicide rates among people diagnosed with autism is not centrally collected.

Health Services: Overseas Visitors

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance NHS England has issued to NHS bodies in England on the implementation of the National Health Service (Charges to Overseas Visitors) Regulations 2015, as amended.

Chris Skidmore: The Department has issued guidance and resources to providers of National Health Service funded secondary care that sets out the rules and best practice to follow for the effective and consistent implementation of the NHS charging regulations.This guidance and all resources are publicly available on GOV.UK at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/nhs-visitor-and-migrant-cost-recovery-programmeThe Department has published guidance to providers on how the charging regulations will be amended in a ‘no deal’ European Union exit.The guidance is available on GOV.UK at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-on-overseas-visitors-hospital-charging-regulations

5G: Health Hazards

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research his Department has (a) undertaken and (b) commissioned on the effect of 5G towers on public health.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

5G: Health Hazards

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which organisations his Department consulted on the effect of 5G towers on public health.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

5G: Health Hazards

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of 5G towers on public health.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Care Homes: Oldham

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with (a) Oldham Council and (b) Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group on the potential effect on staffing levels in care homes of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department is working closely with local government, other Government departments, and with national partners including the Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, to do everything appropriate to prepare for a ‘no deal’ exit on 31 October 2019. This will ensure that the potential impacts of exiting the European Union on vulnerable people using adult social care services are mitigated as far as possible.The Department continues to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels in the social care sector and we have been monitoring leaver and joiner rates of EU staff on a regular basis since the 2016 referendum. We are not complacent and have plans in place to ensure there will continue to be sufficient staff to deliver the high-quality services on which the public relies. Our overall programme of work is comprehensive, thorough and continuously updated and will stand irrespective of the terms in which the United Kingdom leaves the EU.

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust: Staff

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust on the potential effect on NHS staffing levels of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Skidmore: The Department, alongside NHS England and NHS Improvement, is ensuring that there is regular communication with frontline National Health Service organisations regarding European Union exit preparations. We have published EU exit operational readiness guidance for the health and care system in England outlining actions that providers and commissioners of health and social care services should take to prepare for, and manage, the risks of the United Kingdom leaving the EU. We do not currently expect the manner by which the UK leaves the EU to have a significant impact on NHS staffing levels on or around exit day.We are, however, not complacent and have plans in place to ensure there will continue to be sufficient staff to deliver the high-quality services on which the public relies. Our overall programme of work is comprehensive, thorough and continuously updated and will stand irrespective of the terms in which the UK leaves the EU. We continue to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels in the NHS and social care sector and we have been monitoring leaver and joiner rates of EU staff on a regular basis since the 2016 referendum. In addition, individual organisations can escalate concerns through existing reporting mechanisms to ensure there is regional and national oversight.

Health Visitors: Recruitment

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of trends in health visitor recruitment in (a) the UK, (b) Teesside, and (c) Stockton South constituency.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Health Visitors: Recruitment

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to work with the NHS and other partners in primary and community care to increase health visitor numbers in (a) the UK, (b) Teesside, and (c) Stockton South constituency.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Operating Theatres: WiFi

Rachel Maclean: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timeframe is for the introduction of Wi-Fi hotspots in operating theatres in England and Wales to enable smart-technologies.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Timescales for provision of corporate WiFi that would enable use of smart technology is determined locally by each trust.

Department of Health and Social Care: Brexit

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what meetings his Department has had with Leeds City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what meetings his Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions his Department has had with (a) the Local Government Association, (b) London Councils, (c) the Mayor of London and (d) the London Borough of Newham on preparedness in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October 2019.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what support his Department has made available to (a) the Mayor of London, and (b) the London Borough of Newham on preparedness in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October 2019.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential  effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on 31 October 2019 on the ability of the (a) Greater London Authority and (b) London Borough of Newham to provide services to the public.

Chris Skidmore: The Department is working with its partners across Government, arm’s length bodies, local authorities, industry and the wider health and care system to ensure that all relevant parties are prepared for exiting the European Union. The quality and safety of patient care is paramount in our preparedness plans. The Department, alongside NHS England and NHS Improvement, is ensuring that there is regular communication with frontline National Health Service organisations and stakeholders in the health and social care sector regarding EU Exit preparations. NHS England will be holding EU Exit Roadshows in the lead up to 31 October, building on the regular communication that the Department and NHS England has with the frontline.

Mental Health Services: Children

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve the wellbeing and mental health of children.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Expanding access to children’s mental health services is a priority for this Government, and a core part of the NHS Long Term Plan. Spending for children and young people’s mental health services will grow faster than the overall spend on mental health, which will itself be growing faster than the overall National Health Service budget.The NHS has set a goal of an extra 345,000 children and young people aged up to 25 years receiving support via NHS-funded mental health services by 2023/24.Following on from our Green Paper, in December 2018 we launched the first 25 trailblazer sites that will provide new school-based mental health support teams for those with mild to moderate mental health issues. On 12 July, NHS England announced that more of these mental health support teams are to be set up in 57 areas during 2019/20.

Depressive Illnesses: Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of any potential financial savings to the NHS of an increased take up of mindfulness-based therapy for the treatment of repeat depression.

Ms Nadine Dorries: An estimate into the potential savings of mindfulness-based therapy has not been made.The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme was set up to deliver evidence based psychological therapies, including mindfulness-based therapies, as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders but information is not available broken down by therapy type.

Depressive Illnesses: Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will estimate the proportion of GPs who regularly prescribe mindfulness-based therapy for the treatment of repeat depression.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the propensity of GPs to prescribe mindfulness-based therapy for patients who have depression.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Data on the proportion of general practitioners who regularly prescribe mindfulness-based therapy for the treatment of repeat depression is not collected or held centrally.Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy is a brief psychological therapy specifically designed to prevent relapse in individuals with a history of recurrent depression. Treatment is often delivered in groups and starts after an initial intervention for an acute episode has been completed. Mindfulness is not recommended as a primary treatment for an acute depressive episode. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) examines evidence of clinical and cost effectiveness when providing guidelines and recommendations of treatment. The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme was set up to deliver evidence based psychological therapies, including mindfulness-based therapies, as recommended by NICE, for the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders.The responsibility for prescribing rests with the doctor or prescriber who has clinical responsibility for that particular aspect of a patient’s care. Good communication between practitioners and patients is essential and prescribers should always involve patients in decisions about the treatment proposed.

Depressive Illnesses: Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of patients suffering with depression were given mindfulness-based therapies in each primary care trust area in England in the latest year for which figures are available.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Information on the proportion of patients suffering with depression that were given mindfulness-based therapies is not available.

Prisoners: Mental Illness

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social care, what proportion of (a) children and young adults and (b) adults who have received custodial sentences have been diagnosed as having mental health problems in the latest period for which figures are available.

Ms Nadine Dorries: This information is not held in the format requested.

Depressive Illnesses: Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people being treated by mindfulness-based therapies approved by NICE in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Ms Nadine Dorries: In 2018/19, 3,957 Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) referrals that finished a course of treatment included at least one attended mindfulness appointment.Source: IAPT dataset, NHS DigitalNote:To finish a course of treatment with at least one attended mindfulness appointment, a referral must have ended in the year with at least two treatment appointments having been attended during the referral and at least one of these appointments must have a recorded therapy type of mindfulness.

Health: Children

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what methods are used by his Department to measure the effects of its decisions on the wellbeing of children.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sex and Relationship Education: Finance

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will increase the level of funding for relationship advice and sexual health services for teenagers.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Prisoners: Mental Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to centrally collect data on the mental health of the prison population.

Ms Nadine Dorries: NHS England and NHS Improvement routinely collects data on those prisoners with severe and enduring mental health conditions within the prison estate.NHS England and NHS Improvement are leading work to improve data collection across all settings in the children and young people secure estate through a Data and Informatics Group with membership across Government departments, commissioners and other key stakeholders.Health and Justice partners are all working together to improve health outcomes and contribute to reducing reoffending rates.

Continuing Care

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure consistency in the granting of NHS Continuing Healthcare throughout Clinical Commissioning Groups.

Caroline Dinenage: There will always be some variation across clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in NHS Continuing Healthcare eligibility (NHS CHC), due to a wide variety of reasons, including, but not limited to, the age dispersion within the local population and variations between geographical areas in terms of their level of health need.In 2017 NHS England launched an NHS CHC Strategic Improvement Programme and is helping CCGs to improve their application of the NHS CHC National Framework. The Programme aims are to provide fair access to CHC in a way which ensures better outcomes, better experience, and better use of resources.As part of this programme NHS England is working with NHS CCGs to address variation in performance and NHS CHC eligibility rates. To better understand the nature of variation in eligibility, NHS England has developed a clustering methodology, which groups together NHS CCGs with similar demographics. Additionally, the national CHC e-learning offer has been extended and enhanced, and a national competency framework developed to support CHC staff to deliver the National Framework consistently.

Nurses

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he is taking to ensure the adequacy of the number of nurses in the NHS.

Chris Skidmore: On 4 September as part of the Spending Review, the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rt. hon. Sajid Javid MP) announced a £210 million package of support for the National Health Service workforce. Funding includes personal development budgets to support nurses’ learning and development needs over the next three years, and a funding boost to wider education and training budgets to support delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan.The latest Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) data as of 30 August, shows there were 20,190 students accepted onto nursing and midwifery courses, an increase of 4.3% compared to the same point in August 2018. We expect more students will be accepted onto courses before the UCAS clearing period closes on 23 October 2019. NHS Improvement is currently delivering a rapid clinical placement expansion programme working with trust directors of nursing, the higher education sector and healthcare sector to provide targeted support and resource to increase placement capacity for the September 2019 intake.

NHS: Waiting Lists

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps the Government has taken to reduce NHS waiting times.

Chris Skidmore: NHS England’s Operational and Planning Guidance for 2019/20 sets out deliverables against key performance areas, including referral-to-treatment and urgent care, and the Government expects the National Health Service to deliver these actions set– in full – as key steps towards fully recovering performance against access standards.In addition to this, under the NHS Long Term Plan, an extra £33.9 billion a year is being provided to improve and transform urgent and emergency care services, expand the amount of planned surgery year on year, cut long waits and reduce the waiting list.The additional funding will support the NHS in achieving performance standards. More than that, it will also drive the reforms that deliver a better and more sustainable NHS with improved care for patients.

Palliative Care: Children

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which provider organisations NHS England is commissioning to provide specialised paediatric palliative care as defined by E03/S/H 2013/14 NHS Standard Contract For Paediatric Medicine: Palliative Care in 2019-20; and how much NHS England pays for those services.

Caroline Dinenage: NHS England is commissioning the following providers to provide specialised paediatric palliative care as defined by E03/S/H 2013/14 NHS Standard Contract for Paediatric Medicine: Palliative Care in 2019-20. ProviderAlder Hey Children's NHS Foundation TrustGreat Ormond Street Hospital For Children NHS Foundation TrustBirmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation TrustGuy'S And St Thomas' NHS Foundation TrustSheffield Children's NHS Foundation TrustUniversity Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation TrustLeeds Teaching Hospitals NHS TrustCambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustShrewsbury And Telford Hospital NHS TrustTaunton And Somerset NHS Foundation Trust In 2018/19 the total recorded spend on specialised paediatric palliative care was £22.8 million, the latest figures available.

NHS: Drugs

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding will be made available to mitigate any increase in the price of medicines as a result of the UK leaving the EU without an agreement.

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department will take to provide advice and guidance to clinicians on medicine shortages that occur as a result of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding he plans to allocate from the public purse to mitigate pressures on availability of medicines that may occur as a result of the UK leaving the EU.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products when we leave the EU on 31 October.The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medicines to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies. On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October.Further details can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans Ahead of 31 October, all necessary funding will be made available to support our preparations. On 31 July, HM Treasury announced an additional £434 million made available to help ensure continuity of supply of vital medicines and medical products, including through freight capacity, warehousing and stockpiling. Patients, hospitals and community pharmacies do not need to and should not undertake any stockpiling. Separate guidance issued to all National Health Service trusts, pharmacies and general practices has informed them of our plans and advising them that they can expect to be able to continue accessing medicines through their existing supply routes when the UK leaves the EU.The Department’s Medicine Supply Team has well established procedures to deal with medicine shortages and works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England and others operating in the supply chain to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when they do arise.Both the 2019 Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access and the statutory branded medicines pricing scheme have detailed arrangements for how companies can request an increase to the NHS list price for a product.

Health Services: Northern Ireland

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how he plans to sustain and develop cross-border services between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after the UK leaves the EU.

Chris Skidmore: Healthcare is devolved, and it is therefore the Northern Ireland Department of Health that will lead in this area.The United Kingdom Government supports continued cooperation between Ireland and Northern Ireland, as provided for by the Belfast Agreement.To help facilitate such cooperation we have been negotiating with the Irish Government under the auspices of the Common Travel Area, which will maintain a variety of reciprocal rights for British and Irish citizens when travelling or resident in one another’s jurisdictions.Health and care professionals possessing dual registration in Ireland and Northern Ireland will continue to work across the border should we leave the European Union without a deal.

Asthma: Death

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to implement the recommendations of the 2014 National Review of Asthma Deaths to reduce further avoidable deaths from asthma.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department collaborated with the Royal College of Physicians on the National Review of Asthma Deaths and welcomed this report. Since its publication, significant improvements have been made in asthma care.Respiratory disease, including asthma, is a clinical priority within the NHS Long Term Plan, which aims to improve outcomes for patients through earlier diagnosis and increased access to treatments. The Respiratory Delivery Board will take forward respiratory proposals set out in the Plan by working with key partners.

Asthma: Death

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish his Department's responses to the publication of the three Regulation 28 (Prevention of Future Death) Reports on asthma deaths since 2015.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Publication of the responses to Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) reports is a matter for the Chief Coroner as set out in the Coroners (Investigations) Regulations 2013.The Department takes seriously concerns raised by coroners. Where coroner reports are issued to the Department for response, officials liaise with the relevant bodies to ensure concerns are carefully considered and lessons are identified, so that appropriate action can be taken.The Department responded to one PFD report concerning asthma services on 24 April 2019. This was in response to the Prevention of Future Deaths Report issued by the Assistant Coroner for the Eastern Area of Greater London following the inquest into the death of Sophie Holman. The Government is committed to doing all it can to ensure the National Health Service learns from tragic, avoidable deaths and provides high quality, safe care for all patients. This is demonstrated by publication of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy on 2 July 2019. The strategy provides a framework for patient safety improvement over the next ten years and sits alongside the NHS Long Term Plan.

Asthma: Health Services

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to ensure compliance with NICE guidelines on the treatment of asthma that require general practices to provide follow-up care to people who have received treatment in an emergency care setting for an asthma attack within two working days of discharge.

Caroline Dinenage: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guideline on the diagnosis and management of asthma, published in 2017, provides authoritative, evidence-based guidance for healthcare professionals, including on the pharmacological management of asthma. NICE guidelines are based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and are developed through extensive engagement with stakeholders, including patient and professional representatives. Healthcare professionals are expected to take them fully into account. NICE is currently carrying out a partial update of its guideline and expects to publish final guidance in January 2020.

Health Services: EU Nationals

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure EU nationals are aware of the evidence they need to provide to access healthcare in the UK in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: The Department is working closely with other Government departments and the National Health Service to ensure that European Union citizens are aware of the requirements to access healthcare in the event of the United Kingdom leaving the EU without a deal. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office have a large-scale public information campaign setting out what business and the public need to know as we prepare to leave the EU. Further guidance and information will be published in due course.We have published the following guidance on GOV.UK which is available at the following links:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-for-eu-and-efta-citizens-visiting-the-ukhttps://www.gov.uk/guidance/healthcare-for-eu-and-efta-nationals-living-in-the-uk

Health Services: EU Nationals

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure doctors will not be asked to determine patients’ eligibility for healthcare in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: Doctors will not be required to determine patients’ entitlement for free National Health Service care in any European Union exit scenario. A clinician’s role is to provide the relevant healthcare for patients and make decisions on their treatment based on their clinical needs. Clinicians will at times be required to make a decision on whether treatment is immediately necessary, urgent or can safely wait until the individual leaves the UK for those patients identified as not eligible for NHS-funded care, as this will determine when payment has to be taken. The Department is working closely with other Government departments and the NHS to ensure that NHS staff receive appropriate information in relation to any changes to policy or procedure as a result of leaving the EU in a timely and appropriate manner.

Doctors: Qualifications

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with health care regulators on ensuring doctors working in the UK are fit to practise in the event that the UK withdraws from the Mutual Recognition of Professional Qualifications Directive 2005/36/EC after the UK leaves the EU.

Chris Skidmore: Legislation introduced by the Government will provide for the continued recognition of European Economic Area and Swiss healthcare professional qualifications in the event that the United Kingdom leaves the European Union without a deal. The General Medical Council, which regulates doctors across the UK, will continue to protect, promote and maintain the patient safety by controlling entry to the register, and by taking action against medical practitioners that do not meet the standards required to practise in the UK.

NHS: Drugs

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what meetings his Department has had with pharmacies on Teesside on the supply of prescription medication in preparation for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products remains uninterrupted when we leave the European Union on 31 October.The Department, in consultation with the devolved administrations, has been working with trade bodies, product suppliers, and the health and care system in England to make detailed plans that should ensure continuation of the supply of medicines and medical products to the whole of the United Kingdom and its Crown Dependencies. On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October.Further details can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans

HIV Infection

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2019 to Question 280282, on HIV infection, if he will place in the Library of the House of Commons the number of finished consultant episodes that related to (a) primary and (b) secondary diagnoses of HIV infection in (i) England and (ii) each English region in each year since 1989; and if he will provide the information in the format used in the Answer of 19 March 2015 to Question 227661.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of women with a disability have attended cervical cancer screening through the NHS in the last period for which information is available.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Palliative Care: Children

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much NHS England spent on commissioning specialised paediatric palliative care as defined by E03/S/H 2013/14 NHS Standard Contract For Paediatric Medicine: Palliative Care’ in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18 and (c) 2018-19.

Caroline Dinenage: The NHS England Personalised Care Group is reviewing the commissioning, service models, contracting and pricing structure for children and young people’s palliative and end of life care. Within that context, work is underway to develop a national service specification for all aspects of end of life care covering community, hospital, hospice and tertiary care.The following table outlines the funding for specialised paediatric palliative care covering 2016-2019. The overall figures are based on financial information using National Programme of Care codes and are taken from the NHS England annual spend analysis exercise. This exercise uses Provider Aggregate Contract Monitoring (ACM) as the basis for the data; and where this data is incomplete regional commissioning hubs will apportion / estimate any missing values. There are anomalies in the data held on these services. As part of the review of the specialised service specification, the End of Life Care Sub group is also reviewing the current contracting and funding arrangements with hospitals providing tertiary level palliative care services.Year Spend £ million2016/17 26.12017/18 19.92018/19 22.8

NHS and Social Services: Migrant Workers

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on levels of staffing in (a) NHS bodies, (b) care homes, and (c) other social care services of a potential decrease in net migration from other EU countries in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: The Department continues to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels in the health and social care sectors and we have been monitoring leaver and joiner rates of European Union staff on a regular basis since the 2016 referendum. We are not complacent and have plans in place to ensure there will continue to be sufficient staff to deliver the high-quality services on which the public relies. Our overall programme of work is comprehensive, thorough and continuously updated and will stand irrespective of the terms in which the United Kingdom leaves the EU.

Hospitals: North West

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many clinical service incidents caused by estates and infrastructure failure were recorded by NHS trusts and foundation trusts within NHS North West in each of the last five years.

Chris Skidmore: Through the annual Estates Return Information Collection, data is collected annually on the number of incidents caused by estates and infrastructure failure which resulted in clinical services being delayed, cancelled or otherwise interfered with owing to problems or failures related to the estates and infrastructure failure. For National Health Service trusts and NHS foundation trusts, the data available is shown in the following table.YearNumber of clinical service incidents caused by estates and infrastructure failure2015/162562016/17972017/18841This data was not collected before 2015/16.

Hospitals: Knowsley

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many overheating occurrences triggering a risk assessment were recorded by NHS trusts and foundation trusts serving Knowsley in each of the last five years.

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many overheating occurrences triggering a risk assessment were recorded by NHS trusts and foundation trusts within NHS North West in each of the last five years.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

NHS: Capital Investment

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many bids for capital spending has (a) his Department and (b) NHS England received from NHS organisations in each of the last five years.

Chris Skidmore: The number of bids received by the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement for capital spending are not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Antibiotics: Prescriptions

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of prescriptions for antibiotics issued in the last (a) 12 months and (b) five years; and what proportion of those patients were subsequently admitted to hospital.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Antibiotics: Diarrhoea

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on the number of patients on antibiotics who developed (a) AAD and (b) CDI/CDAD.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Clostridium

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what proportion of community-acquired c-difficile infections require hospitalisation.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

NHS: Drugs

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with Oldham Council on the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement on the availability of medicines.

Chris Skidmore: As part of a responsible Government, the Department is doing everything appropriate to prepare for European Union exit. We want to reassure patients that our plans should ensure the supply of medicines and medical products when we leave the EU on 31 October.The Department, alongside NHS England and NHS Improvement, are ensuring that there is regular communication with frontline National Health Service organisations and stakeholders in the health and social care sector regarding EU Exit preparations. NHS England and NHS Improvement will be holding EU Exit roadshows in the lead up to 31 October, building on the regular communication that the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement has with the frontline.On 26 June, we wrote to suppliers of medicines to the UK from or via the EU or European Economic Area setting out our continuing multi-layered approach to support continuity of supply of medicines and medical products from 31 October.Further details can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/medicines-and-medical-products-supply-government-updates-no-deal-brexit-plans

NHS: Mental Health

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to help protect the mental health of NHS staff.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The NHS Long Term Plan sets out that NHS England will provide targeted support to trusts to access fast track occupational health services and a line management development programme, building on existing work with 70 organisations. This complements the publication of the NHS Health and Wellbeing Framework in May 2018, which includes recommendations from ‘Thriving at Work: The Stevenson/Farmer review of mental health and employers’.

Prostate Cancer: Screening

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for the National Screening Committee to conduct the next review of the evidence on screening for prostate cancer.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Medical Treatments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has undertaken a public consultation on the effectiveness of the NHS prioritisation process.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Hospitals: Infectious Diseases

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to prevent the spread of disease in hospitals.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Pregnancy: Nutrition

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department provides to pregnant women on nutrition in pregnancy.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sepsis: Diagnosis

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve early diagnosis of sepsis.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Since the formation of NHS England’s Cross-System Sepsis Programme Board in 2015, good progress has been made in recognising sepsis early. The Programme Board brings together a group of front-line experts from across the health and care system to take action to improve the identification, diagnosis and management of sepsis in children, young people and adults across the National Health Service.In September 2018, the Government launched a suspicion of sepsis dashboard. This allows hospitals to identify how many patients are admitted with a severe bacterial infection, are at risk of sepsis, to track their improvements, and supports clinicians in identifying patients who should be screened for sepsis.

Motor Neurone Disease: Sports

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has commissioned research into the connection between head injuries sustained through sport and and motor neurone disease.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department funds health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health. However, the NIHR has not conducted any research into links between head injuries sustained through sport and motor neurone disease.It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

Diabetes: Health Education

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to work with Diabetes UK to raise awareness among people with diabetes of complications arising from that condition.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Parkinson's Disease: Surgery

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to make deep brain stimulation for the treatment of Parkinson's disease available on the NHS.

Caroline Dinenage: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidance ‘Parkinson’s disease in adults’, published in July 2017 sets out evidence-based guidance for healthcare professionals and commissioners in the care treatment and support of people with Parkinson’s disease.The guidance recommends that clinicians should consider deep brain stimulation for people with advanced Parkinson's disease whose symptoms are not adequately controlled by best medical therapy.NHS England commissions deep brain stimulation for people with movement disorders, including Parkinson’s disease, in line with the criteria set out in its national commissioning. Both the NICE guidance and the commissioning policy can be found at the following links:www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng71www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/group-d/d04/

Alzheimer's Disease: Diagnosis

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the early detection of Alzheimer's disease.

Caroline Dinenage: Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia in the United Kingdom.The Challenge on Dementia 2020 sets out the ambition for two thirds of people with dementia to receive a formal diagnosis. This has been achieved and exceeded nationally. Our focus now is on reducing the variation in local diagnosis rates and NHS England have published guidance and put programmes in place to further improve the quality and timeliness of diagnosis across the country.For example, the ‘Implementation guide and resource pack for dementia care’ published in July 2017 sets out key recommendations on how services should be configured to provide good quality diagnosis and post-diagnostic care for people with dementia and their carers. It includes key roles and activity in primary care and memory assessment services to facilitate an accurate and timely diagnosis of dementia, while ensuring access to appropriate support following diagnosis. The resource pack is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/dementia/implementation-guide-and-resource-pack-for-dementia-care/

Influenza: Vaccination

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he plans to take to increase the take-up of winter flu vaccine 2019.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to introduce annual screening for women who have a history of breast cancer.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

General Practitioners: Recruitment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of additional GPs required to meet the targets set in the NHS Long Term Plan.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Patients: Safety

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that patient safety will be protected in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: The Department is working with its partners across Government, the National Health Service, arm’s length bodies, local authorities, industry and the wider health and care system to ensure that all relevant parties are prepared for exiting the European Union.The quality and safety of patient care is paramount in our preparedness plans.The work being undertaken includes securing continued supplies of medicines, medical devices and clinical products, and ensuring that the NHS continues to have sufficient staff to maintain quality of care and the safety of patients.

NHS

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has sought assurances from the NHS on the preparedness of NHS organisations in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: The Department is working with its partners across Government, arm’s-length bodies, local authorities, industry and the wider health and care system to ensure that all relevant parties are prepared for exiting the European Union. The quality and safety of patient care is paramount in our preparedness plans.

Thalidomide

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to renew the health grant for thalidomide survivors in April 2023.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government is committed to meeting the additional health needs of thalidomide survivors and to giving them the same opportunities that others enjoy. The current health grant is a central element of this. We will be drawing on evidence in due course from the Thalidomide Trust regarding the value and benefits of the grant when considering arrangements for when the current 10 year grant ends in 2023. Future funding decisions will be undertaken as part of the appropriate Spending Review process in due course.

Hormone Replacement Therapy: Shortages

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle the shortages of HRT medications.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of women who have been unable to receive HRT because of shortages of those therapies; and if he will make a statement.

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure women are able to access HRT while there is a supply shortage.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: The Department is working with its partners across Government, arm’s length bodies, local authorities, industry and the wider health and care system to ensure that all relevant parties are prepared for exiting the European Union. The quality and safety of patient care is paramount in our preparedness plans. The Department, alongside NHS England and NHS Improvement, is ensuring that there is regular communication with frontline National Health Service organisations and stakeholders in the health and social care sector regarding EU Exit preparations. NHS England will be holding EU Exit Roadshows in the lead up to 31 October building on the regular communication that the Department and NHS England has with the frontline.

Palliative Care: Children

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much money NHS England has budgeted in the 2019-20 financial year for specialised paediatric palliative care as defined by E03/S/H 2013/14 NHS Standard Contract For Paediatric Medicine: Palliative Care.

Caroline Dinenage: The NHS England Personalised Care Group is reviewing the commissioning, service models, contracting and pricing structure for children and young people’s palliative and end of life care. Within that context, work is underway to develop a national service specification for all aspects of end of life care covering community, hospital, hospice and tertiary care.As part of the review of the specialised service specification, the End of Life Care Sub group is also reviewing the current contracting and funding arrangements with hospitals providing tertiary level palliative care services.

NHS: Vacancies

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the NHS People Plan will consider potential workforce shortages for health and care services provided by the voluntary sector.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Body Bags: South West

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether body bags are being stockpiled in the south west of England as part of the preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: The Department, as part of its overall, multi-layered continuity of supply programme, is building a Centralised Stock Build of medical devices and clinical consumables that have a European Union/European Economic Area touchpoint in their supply chains. This stock build is being led and managed by NHS Supply Chain (Supply Chain Coordination Limited).

Cervical Cancer: Screening

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to make it easier for women with a physical disability to access cervical screening services.

Jo Churchill: NHS England is continuously investing in initiatives to help ensure equality of access to screening and, through the public health functions agreement (S7a), NHS England aims to improve public health outcomes and reduce inequalities.General practitioner practices are required to ensure that their premises are suitable for the delivery of essential and where appropriate additional services, and that they are sufficient to meet the reasonable needs of its patients, including those with disabilities. This involves making any reasonable adjustments necessary or making alternative arrangements such as referral to a specialist screening provider or undertaking the procedures in another setting that is more suitable given any limitations to a patient’s mobility. Where a patient requires specialist equipment, clinical staff will ensure that patients have access to its use in a safe environment.As part of the NHS Long Term Plan, NHS England asked Sir Mike Richards to lead a review of the current cancer screening programmes. The review will be finalised in autumn 2019 and will make recommendations to further improve the delivery of the screening programmes, including the cervical screening. The Department will take forward the findings of the review once published.

NHS: Capital Investment

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much capital funding has been (a) allocated to and (b) spent by (i) NHS foundation trusts and (ii) NHS trusts per capita in each of the last five years.

Chris Skidmore: National Health Service capital expenditure by NHS providers is funded in large part through their ability to generate income via trading activity with Commissioners. This internally generated financing is supplemented by Departmental financing in the form of repayable capital loans and Public Dividend Capital (PDC) for specific strategic initiatives, for example sustainability and transformation partnerships funding; for investment to address pressures on urgent and emergency care over the winter period or for investment in strategic technology fields.Details of these investments can be found in the annual report ‘Financial Assistance under Section 40 of the National Health Service Act 2006’, which is published alongside the Department’s Annual Report. This can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dhsc-annual-report-and-accounts-2018-to-2019The following table provides detail of the outturn Capital Departmental Expenditure Limit (CDEL) for foundation trusts and NHS trusts over the past five years.It is not possible to provide this information ‘per capita’ as there is no fixed population or geographical boundary for any given hospital trust.  2014-152015-162016-172017-182018-19Foundation Trust CDEL Outturn Expenditure (£,000s)1,925,5551,795,6931,815,8372,061,0232,380,091NHS Trust CDEL Outturn Expenditure (£,000s)1,381,2761,146,2031,049,5011,002,0171,551,799Total NHS Provider CDEL Outturn Expenditure (£,000s)3,306,8312,941,8962,865,3383,063,0403,931,890

Medical Records: Databases

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) NHS trusts and (b) NHS foundation trusts have implemented an Electronic Patient Record system; and how many patients’ records are recorded on those systems.

Ms Nadine Dorries: NHS Digital has advised that currently there are 71 National Health Service trusts and 108 NHS foundation trusts who have implemented an Electronic Patient Record System. NHS Digital does not routinely collect data on the overall number of patients’ records and therefore the number of patient’s records is not held on the Electronic Patient Record System.

NHS: Capital Investment

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many bids for capital spending (a) his Department, (b) NHS England and (c) NHS Improvement have (i) accepted and (ii) fully funded in each of the last five years; and what the total value was of those bids in each of those years.

Chris Skidmore: The number of bids received by the Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement for capital spending are not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Hospitals: Heating

Dr Sarah Wollaston: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many overheating occurrences triggering a risk assessment were recorded by (a) NHS trusts and( b) foundation trusts in (i) England and (ii) Totnes in each of the last five years.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sugar: Consumption

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish an update on progress made on the Sugar Reduction Programme.

Jo Churchill: The publication date for the second progress report for the sugar reduction programme is yet to be agreed.

NHS: Drugs

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a list of medicines that are (a) not currently available and (b) in short supply in (i) the West Midlands and (ii) England and Wales.

Jo Churchill: The Department receives regular reports from the pharmaceutical industry about issues which may potentially interrupt the supply of medicines that may affect United Kingdom patients and uses a host of tools to help mitigate and manage any issues. From January this year, it became a mandatory requirement that pharmaceutical companies must report this information to us in a timely manner.The Department shares regular updates about impending and current medicine supply issues directly with the National Health Service and the devolved administrations and communicates with other networks including patient groups where appropriate. These communications include information about mitigation actions and management plans to ensure affected patients can be managed appropriately. The Department does not share this information publicly.

NHS: Migrant Workers

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of EU citizens working for the NHS in the West Midlands that have been granted settled status; and what proportion of those EU citizens this represents.

Chris Skidmore: Information about the number of European Union citizens working for the National Health Service, in the West Midlands or elsewhere, who have been granted settled status is not held centrally.

Hormone Replacement Therapy

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of women that are currently prescribed HRT in (a) the West Midlands and (b) all other regions of England.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

General Practitioners: Standards

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the average waiting time for an appointment to see a GP in (a) England and Wales and (b) Coventry.

Jo Churchill: The most recent data on the time between booking an appointment with a general practice and having the appointment (in days) for Coventry and Rugby Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) as well as for England are presented in the following table as the average over the 12 months from August 2018 to July 2019.The data is taken from the NHS Digital publication ‘Appointments in General Practice’. This is a new experimental data collection which is still being refined and improved.It should be noted that the ‘time from booking to appointment’ refers only to the time elapsed between the successful booking of an appointment and the appointment actually taking place. The data does not take into consideration that many patients will be appropriately booking ahead as part of the continuity of care they receive for long-term conditions. Coventry and Rugby CCGEngland Distribution of average time elapsed between booking an appointment and the appointment taking place, August 2018 to July 2019Same Day47%42%1 Day7%7%2 to 7 Days21%20%8 to 14 Days12%14%15 to 21 Days6%8%22 or more7%10%Total100.0%100.0% Notes:There are several factors that drive the time from a booking to an appointment. This includes appointment availability at the practice, patient availability, the urgency of the appointment and general practitioner (GP) advice.The data does not differentiate between emergency and routine appointments in general practice.The data does not include any information about the patients or clinical information.The data in the response includes appointments with all healthcare professional types, including GPs and other practice staff.Not all practices in England are included in the appointments in general practice publication, meaning the total number of appointments is not known.Same day and next day bookings are of particular interest so are presented here separately. Further bookings are presented grouped by weeks.The number of appointments that have already happened is provided as recorded in participating practices in England. The data presented only contains information which was captured on the GP practice systems. This limits the activity reported on and does not represent all work happening within a primary care setting.

Tomography: Thames Valley

Layla Moran: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timescale is for installing permanent PET-CT facilities in the Thames Valley area.

Jo Churchill: NHS England, InHealth and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) have now agreed a formal partnership arrangement, setting out how they will provide PET-CT scanners across the Thames Valley area.It creates new and additional services for patients who need these important services across the Thames Valley provided by InHealth while sustaining the PET-CT scanning service on the Churchill site provided by the OUH.The new sites will use modern mobile scanners, with the aim of putting in place permanent facilities in the longer term. A timescale for this has not yet been agreed.

General Practitioners: Training

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of trends of the number of trainee GPs in each of the last ten years.

Jo Churchill: The Department’s assessment is that the number of general practitioner (GP) trainees in England has been increasing over the last 10 years. Data on the number of doctors in general practice speciality training is only available for the past eight years, including 2019, and is provided in the attached table. Data on the number of doctors entering GP training for each of the previous 10 years is also provided in the attached table.



GP trainees in the last 10 years
(Word Document, 24.87 KB)

General Practitioners: Termination of Employment

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the trends of the number of GPs (a) retiring and (b) leaving the profession in each of the last ten years.

Jo Churchill: The Department is unable to make an assessment on the trends in the number of general practitioners (GPs) retiring in each of the last 10 years. The data in the following table shows the headcount and full-time equivalent for the number of GPs who joined or left the workforce between the beginning and the end of the specified period in 2015-16, 2016-17 and 2017-18, as reported by GP practices in England to NHS Digital. The numbers exclude Registrars, Locums and GPs transferring between practices. This data should be treated with caution as it is incomplete. Data on the number of GPs leaving the profession is only available from September 2015.NHS Digital define a workforce joiner as a GP who was recorded as working in a practice at the end of the specified time period, but not at its beginning. A workforce leaver is defined as a GP who was recorded as working in a GP practice at the beginning but not at the end of the specified time period. The number of leavers includes GPs who retired as well as those who left general practice for other reasons, such as to join a National Health Service organisation (non-GP practice).The recording of leavers and joiners depends on accurate recording by the employing practice of a GP’s General Medical Council (GMC) number. Hence the data should be treated with caution, because a GP could be incorrectly recorded as joining or leaving the workforce if they move between practices and their GMC number is not correctly recorded by one or both practices.The figures are experimental statistics and are based only on a cohort of GP practices that were open at both the beginning and end of the specified time period and supplied GMC Numbers for 100% of their relevant GP staff.Number of GP practices supplying dataFull-Time-EquivalentHeadcountJoinersLeaversJoinersLeaversSeptember 2015 to September 20165,663 practices (74.9% of all practices)1,7081,7932,3932,473September 2016 to September 20176,323 practices (86.0% of all practices)1,4411,5352,1032,080September 2017 to September 20185,914 practices (82.9% of all practices)1,3971,5212,1202,111Source: NHS Digital General Practice Workforce, Final 31 March 2019, experimental statisticsNote:Full time equivalent (FTE) refers to the proportion of full time contracted hours that the post holder is contracted to work. 1 would indicate they work a full set of hours (37.5), 0.5 that they worked half time. In Registrars' contracts 1 FTE = 40 hours. To ensure consistency, these FTEs have been converted to the standard wMDS measure of 1 FTE = 37.5 hours in the table.

Pregnancy: Screening

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will commit to making pulse oximetry diagnostics available to all expectant mothers.

Caroline Dinenage: Following the completion of the public consultation on the use of pulse oximetry as an additional test to the Newborn and Infant Physical Examination programme (NIPE) on 9 August 2019, the United Kingdom National Screening Committee will review comments and, depending on the comments, either make a recommendation to ministers as to whether a pulse oximetry test should be added to the NIPE or carry out further work on the evidence review.

Organs: Donors

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the trends in the level of organ transplants as a result of the roll-out of opt-out only organ donations.

Caroline Dinenage: The Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act 2019 will be introducing a new system of consent for organ and tissue donation in England, from spring 2020, to help increase the rate of deceased donation. The resulting increase in deceased donors is expected to come in gradually and reach full effect in 2022/23. Based on the available evidence and the expected time for it to take full effect, the Government estimates that the change in legislation will result in approximately 700 additional transplants a year in the United Kingdom.

Influenza: Vaccination

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions his Department has had with organisations in the flu vaccine supply chain on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: Flu vaccine cannot be stockpiled in advance as it is a seasonal vaccine. However, additional planning to ensure supplies of the flu vaccines has been undertaken. The Department, Public Health England and NHS England have been in regular discussion with vaccine suppliers to minimise the risk of supply disruption following European Union exit, and to ensure that contingency plans are in place.Officials continuously monitor the flu vaccine supply landscape to enable timely and appropriate action to be taken in the event of supply issues.

HIV Infection

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the proportion of people diagnosed with HIV at a late stage of infection.

Jo Churchill: Public Health England routinely collects data on people newly diagnosed with HIV in the United Kingdom. In 2018, 43% (1,480/3,465) of people newly diagnosed with HIV were diagnosed at a late stage of infection. The proportion of people diagnosed late has declined steadily over the last decade, since 2009 when 52% (2,875/5,553) of people were diagnosed at a late stage of infection. This data can be viewed at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hiv-annual-data-tables

HIV Infection: Drugs

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to widen access to the drug PrEP.

Jo Churchill: Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is currently funded through the three-year PrEP Impact Trial. Following my Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s announcement on 30 January that the number of places on the trial would be doubled to 26,000, expansion of the Trial is now underway across the country. A core function of the PrEP Impact Trial Community Advisory Board (CAB) is to raise awareness and uptake of PrEP in key populations including black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities. Further information about PrEP Impact Trial CAB activities and participating community groups can be found at the following links:https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/blood-and-infection-group-f/f03/prep-trial-updates/https://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/faqsIn addition, Public Health England’s Innovation Fund has supported a number of community based projects aimed at increasing PrEP awareness in women, BAME groups and trans communities. Information on the projects funded in 2018 can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/innovative-hiv-prevention-projects-reached-170000-people-in-2018

Parkinson's Disease: Anxiety and Depressive Illnesses

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support research on the link between Parkinson’s and (a) anxiety and (b) depression; and if he will review NICE guidelines for people with Parkinson's who have anxiety and depression.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including Parkinson’s disease and mental health. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. Information on individual projects funded by the NIHR can be found at the following link:https://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/NIHR support for research into Parkinson’s was nearly £15 million since 2015. This includes studies looking specifically at Parkinson’s and mental health such as the ‘Antidepressants Trial in Parkinson’s Disease (ADepT-PD)’ and the ‘Personalised Care for People with Parkinson’s Disease: PD Care’ study. NIHR infrastructure has supported 169 studies into Parkinson’s Disease since 2015.

Doctors and Nurses: Hampshire

Mr Damian Hinds: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of FTE (a) general practitioners, (b) other doctors and (c) nurses employed by the NHS in Hampshire in (i) 2010 and (ii) the most recent year for which figures are available.

Chris Skidmore: NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics for England. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care, local authorities or other providers.The following table shows the number of doctors and nurses and health visitors in Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as at May 2019, the latest available data, compared to recent years, full time equivalent (FTE) rounded. DoctorsNurses and Health VisitorsMay 20125771,167May 20135901,172May 20146191,272May 20156401,299May 20166661,249May 20176731,277May 20187121,270May 20197181,311Source: NHS Digital Workforce StatisticsHampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust came into being in January 2012 as a result of the integration of Basingstoke and North Hampshire NHS Foundation Trust, which achieved Foundation Trust status in 2006, and Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust. The following table below shows the number of general practitioners (GPs), excluding locums, nurses and other direct patient care staff working in general practice as of March 2016, earliest available data of the same month and March 2019, latest available data, in NHS North Hampshire CCG, NHS South Eastern Hampshire CCG, NHS West Hampshire CCG and NHS North East Hampshire and Farnham CCG. FTE rounded.  March 2016March 2019All Regular GPs (excludes Locums)729729Nurses310327Direct Patient Care212233 Source: NHS DigitalGP locums are excluded as improvements have been made to GP locum recording methodology and figures are not comparable prior to December 2017.Data prior to March 2016 has not been provided as improvements were made to the methodology for recording staff working in general practice in September 2015 and data prior to this is not comparable.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of women who received an unclear result from a mammogram test were asked to return for a further test in each of the last five years.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of women who undertook a second mammogram test after having an unclear result from the first such test in each of the last five years.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of women who received an unclear result from a mammogram were diagnosed with breast cancer within 12 months of that initial result in each of the last five years.

Jo Churchill: Data on the number of women who undertook a second mammogram test after having an unclear result from the first test are not available in the format requested.Data on the number of women diagnosed with cancers that are detected during the interval between routine scheduled breast screening appointments are not available in the format requested.Data on the number of women who received an unclear result from a mammogram test and were asked to return for a further test are not available in the format requested.

Euthanasia: Internet

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure mental health professionals are (a) informed about and (b) equipped to deal with the potential harms of (a) euthanasia websites and (b) similar online media on vulnerable people under their care.

Ms Nadine Dorries: It is the responsibility of individual employers to ensure that their employees are appropriately trained and competent to carry out their duties. Individual regulated healthcare professionals also need to undertake continuous professional development in order to maintain their registration.The Online Harms White Paper will make the internet safer for everyone. The Department will continue to work with social media companies to address wider issues of the impact of the internet on mental health and wellbeing.

Autism and Hyperactivity: Mental Health Services

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing tailored mental health services for people diagnosed with (a) autism and (b) ADHD.

Caroline Dinenage: The National Autistic Society estimates that around 70-80% of autistic people will develop a mental health condition at some point in their lives. It is therefore critical that autistic people have equitable access to mental health services, with reasonable adjustments made where appropriate.On 5 December 2018, the Government announced that we will be launching a comprehensive review of our autism strategy, ‘Think Autism’. This is to ensure it remains fit for purpose. The Government wants an autism strategy that works for all autistic people, and that is why, working very closely with the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care will be extending the strategy to include children.To inform our review we launched a national call for evidence, which closed on 16 May. This will help us understand what is working and where we need to push harder to transform experiences of autistic people. We will be considering the evidence in respect of mental health services as part of this and we will be publishing the revised strategy later this year.In March 2018, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) updated their existing guideline and Quality Standard on diagnosing and managing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in adults, young people and children. NICE has established an expert working group to look at how the current NICE guidance and quality standard on ADHD are being implemented. It is working to identify best practice and examples of innovation, which have improved outcomes for people with ADHD, so that these can be widely disseminated to commissioners to improve local practice. Under the NHS Long Term Plan, there will be a comprehensive expansion of mental health services, with an additional £2.3 billion in real terms by 2023/24. This will give 380,000 more adults access to psychological therapies and 345,000 more children and young people greater support in the next five years. The National Health Service will also roll out new waiting times to ensure rapid access to mental health services in the community for those that need it and expand crisis care.

Prescriptions: Fees and Charges

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will (a) review the list of medical conditions for which patients are exempt from prescription charges and (b) ensure that (i) multiple sclerosis and (ii) other long-term illnesses are included on that list.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

European Reference Networks

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the UK will be excluded from European Reference Networks when the UK leaves the EU.

Caroline Dinenage: The United Kingdom will be leaving the European Union on 31 October whatever the circumstances. We would prefer to leave with a deal. The details of this partnership, including participation in the European Reference Networks, will be a matter for negotiation with the EU after we leave. We are preparing for that negotiation and will work with a wide range of partners to ensure a successful outcome for UK business and citizens.

Abortion: Expenditure

Sir Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, which organisations his Department has allocated funding to for the provision of abortions in each of the last 30 years; how much funding was allocated to each organisation; and how many abortions were performed by those organisations.

Caroline Dinenage: Abortion services in England are funded locally by clinical commissioning groups. The Department does not collect information on the funding individual organisations receive. Funding is also provided for independent sector and National Health Service organisations for the Northern Ireland Abortion Scheme. To provide information on the number of abortions performed by individual organisations over the last 30 years would incur disproportionate cost.

NHS: Recruitment

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many additional (a) nursing and (b) clinical positions will be funded in the Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group as a result of Spending Round 2019.

Chris Skidmore: The Spending Round 2019 did not determine the number of posts at clinical commissioning groups or healthcare providers. Staffing levels are not determined centrally; it is for autonomous NHS employers to determine the workforce numbers required to meet their local NHS service requirements. The National Health Service settlement that was confirmed in January 2019 secured additional funding for clinical commissioning groups to commission the services their populations need. Healthcare providers determine the staffing levels they require in order to provide the services they have been commissioned.The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rt. hon. Sajid Javid MP) announced through the Spending Round a £210 million package specifically to support the NHS workforce. This is additional funding investment in training and professional development for our NHS staff. This is part of a wider drive to improve recruitment, retention and staff morale through the development of the first ever NHS People Plan, led by NHS Improvement Chair Dido Harding and NHS Chief People Officer, Prerana Issar.In January 2019 Government confirmed a £33.9 billion cash terms increase in the NHS budget by 2023/24, compared to 2018/19. This Spending Round reaffirms that commitment, which includes a £6.2 billion increase in NHS funding next year.

Health Services: Artificial Intelligence

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions officials in his Department have had with representatives of (a) businesses and (b) academia on the introduction of artificial intelligence for the provision of clinical services.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Officials started formally engaging with business and academia on the topic of the introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the provision of clinical services in January 2018 when the programme of work for developing the NHS Code of Conduct for Data-Driven Health and Care Technologies began. Since then there has been an open dialogue between the Department, NHSX, academia and both large and small businesses to support the National Health Service to become the world leader in AI for healthcare.

Seretide

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the availability of the asthma drug serotide in pharmacies; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: The Department fully understands that maintaining access to Seretide inhalers for the management of asthma is vitally important to many people in this country. We are currently not aware of any supply issues with Seretide inhalers from GSK and they are available in volumes sufficient to meet normal United Kingdom demand.We continue to work closely with industry and partners in the health system to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised when supply issues do arise.

Dementia: Health Education

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will promote the Dementia Friend training provided by the Alzheimer’s Society to officials in Government Departments.

Caroline Dinenage: The Department routinely promotes Dementia Friends to staff, including through Ministerially led initiatives during the annual Dementia Action Week.One of the aspirations of the Challenge on Dementia 2020 is for all Government departments and public sector organisations to become dementia friendly and for all parts of local government being part of a local Dementia Action Alliance.Government departments are actively engaging in the Dementia Friends programme with staff becoming Dementia Friends. A free, online, Dementia Friends resource is available to all civil servants.Working with our delivery partners, we continue to target the involvement of Government departments, businesses and other large employers in the Dementia Friends Programme.Work is already underway on a new dementia strategy for the period 2020 to 2025 which we expect to publish early next year. This will include dementia awareness as one the themes.

Mental Health Services: Expenditure

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the mental health budget was in each of the last 30 years.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department holds overall yearly National Health Service budget figures, but it is not broken down into funding for specific areas such as mental health.The Department’s budget is not spent directly on mental health services. Since 2016/17, NHS England has collated information on mental health expenditure for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) and specialised commissioned services and published this information in the Five Year Forward View Dashboard that is available following link:www.england.nhs.uk/publication/mental-health-five-year-forward-view-dashboard/

Mental Health Services: Prisons

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of meditation techniques in prisoners' (a) mental health and (b) other health care.

Ms Nadine Dorries: In March 2017, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a guideline on mental health of adults in contact with the criminal justice system (NG66). Meditation for promoting mental health and wellbeing was considered during the development of the guideline. However, the guideline committee considered the evidence insufficient to support any specific recommendations on meditation.NICE also published a guideline on physical health of people in prison (NG57) in November 2016, which made recommendations on the promotion of prisoners’ health and wellbeing. Meditation was not considered during the development of this guideline.

Health: Disadvantaged

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of potential links between income inequality and health inequalities.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Food: Microplastics

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research her Department has commissioned into the effect on human health of ingesting micro- and nano-plastics which have found their way into the food chain.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Clostridium

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the cost to the NHS of treating patients with recurrent C-difficile infection.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Clostridium

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department holds on the number of incidences of an outbreak of C-Difficile Infection in NHS hospitals after a single case of that infection was diagnosed.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Dietary Supplements

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of benefits of the use of (a) prebiotics and (b) probiotics in the NHS.

Jo Churchill: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

NHS: Standards

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to (a) measure and (b) improve patient experience and quality of compassionate care.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Feedback on patients’ views on the services they receive is a vital part of the way the National Health Service improves services and delivers improved outcomes for patients.Patients are offered a range of opportunities to feed back on the quality of the care they receive. These include near real-time feedback such as the Friends and Family Test, which is a survey conducted by NHS service providers to identify good practice and opportunities to make improvements, locally developed feedback programmes, and annual feedback such as national surveys including the Cancer Patient Experience Survey, the GP Patient Survey, published by NHS England, and surveys conducted by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to assess experiences in specific settings such as inpatient care.The CQC also inspects against whether services are caring and responsive to people’s needs. Under the ‘caring’ domain the CQC’s inspectors look for evidence that staff involve and treat service-users with compassion, kindness, dignity and respect.

Body Bags

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many body bags have been stockpiled under the Operation Yellowhammer in preparation for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Skidmore: The Department, as part of its overall, multi-layered continuity of supply programme, is building a Centralised Stock Build (CSB) of medical devices and clinical consumables that have an European Union/European Economic Area touchpoint in their supply chains. This stock build is being led and managed by NHS Supply Chain (Supply Chain Coordination Limited).

Doctors: Surrey

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many doctors there were in hospitals in Surrey in (a) the first quarter of 2010 and (b) the latest period for which figures are available.

Chris Skidmore: NHS Digital publishes Hospital and Community Health Services (HCHS) workforce statistics for England. These include staff working in hospital trusts and clinical commissioning groups, but not staff working in primary care, local authorities or other providers.The following table shows the number of doctors at Royal Surrey County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust as at May 2019, the latest available data, compared to the first three months of 2010. Figures are full time equivalents.  January 2010February 2010March 2010May 2010May 2019Doctors9239399399431,244 Source: NHS Digital Workforce Statistics Change in the numbers may be seasonal: it is recommended that comparisons between years use the same month (for example, May 2010 to May 2019).

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to improve support for children and young people with mental health issues.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Expanding access to children’s mental health services is a priority for this Government. In 2017/18, around 30.5% of children and young people then estimated to have a mental health condition were able to benefit from treatment and support, up from an estimated 25% two years earlier. The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health, published in 2016, committed that, by 2020/21, at least an additional 70,000 children and young people each year will receive treatment; that there is a mental health crisis response that meets the needs of under 18 year olds; and that we will achieve a target of 95% of children and young people with eating disorders accessing treatment within one week for urgent cases, and four weeks for routine cases. We are providing an additional £1.4 billion to improve specialist children and young people’s mental health services between 2015-21. On top of those commitments, the NHS Long Term Plan, published in January 2019, set an ambitious goal of an extra 345,000 children and young people aged 0-25 (in addition to the 70,000 children referred to above) receiving support via NHS-funded mental health services by 2023/24; that there will be 24/7 mental health crisis provision for children and young people; and that there will be a comprehensive offer for 0-25 year olds that reaches across mental health services for children, young people and adults. NHS England has also published its Mental Health Implementation Plan in July 2019, setting out its plans for delivering its Long Term Plan goals. Mental health services will grow faster than the overall National Health Service budget, with a ringfenced investment worth at least £2.3 billion a year for mental health services by 2023/24. Children and young people’s mental health services will grow faster than both overall NHS funding and total mental health spending. We are making good progress towards our goals. In December 2018 we announced the first 25 trailblazer sites that will provide new school-based mental health support teams for those with mild to moderate mental health issues, and which will be operational by the end of this year. On 12 July 2019, NHS England announced that more mental health support teams are to be set up in 57 areas and will be operational by the end of 2020. We are trialling a four-week waiting time standard in 12 of the trailblazer sites, ahead of introducing new national waiting time standards for all children and young people who need specialist mental health services.

Social Services: Employment

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure adequate staffing levels in the social care sector in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government hugely values the contribution of the 104,000 European Union staff who work in the social care sector. The Prime Minister has made it clear that we not only want them to stay, but also to feel welcomed and encouraged to do so. The EU Settlement Scheme has now fully opened, is free and will allow EU nationals employed in the social care sector to secure their long-term status in the United Kingdom.The Department continues to monitor and analyse overall staffing levels across both the health and social care sectors and we have been monitoring leaver and joiner rates of European Union staff on a regular basis since the 2016 referendum. We are not complacent and have plans in place to ensure there will continue to be enough staff to deliver the high-quality services on which the public relies.

Hospitals: Parking

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of NHS hospital car parks in England are operated by private parking companies.

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of NHS hospital sites in England are compliant with his Department's guidance entitled, NHS patient, visitor and staff car parking principles.

Chris Skidmore: The level and appropriateness of car parking charges at National Health Service sites is the responsibility of the local NHS trust. The Department have published the NHS Car Parking Principles which clearly state that concessions should be offered to groups who most need help, such as disabled people including those with blue badges and temporary disabilities.Information is not collected on car parking costs, concessionary parking arrangements for blue badge holders or the number of private provider companies that operate NHS hospital car parks in England.

Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the Commission's most recent estimate is for the number of eligible people who are (a) not on the electoral register and (b) not registered correctly; and how the Commission calculated this estimate.

Bridget Phillipson: Holding answer received on 06 September 2019



The Electoral Commission undertakes periodic research into the accuracy and completeness of the electoral registers in the UK. Information is collected from a sample of households, and details of residents are then matched against actual register entries to generate the estimates of accuracy and completeness.The last study assessed the December 2015 registers and was published in 2016. The Commission found that:In Great Britain, the local government registers were 84% complete, meaning that 16% of eligible electors did not have a correct register entry.In Northern Ireland, the local government register were 79% complete, meaning that 21% of eligible electors did not have a correct register entry.By applying these estimates to Office for National Statistics data, the Commission calculated that:In Great Britain, between 7.8 and 8.5 million eligible people were not correctly registered.In Northern Ireland, between 275,000 and 330,000 eligible people were not correctly registered.This does not mean that these people were entirely missing from the registers; many will have had an entry at a previous address. It is not possible to determine this figure because of the absence of a consistent, unique identifier for individual electors on the registers.The results of the Commission’s next accuracy and completeness study will be published in the coming months.

Electoral Registration Officers

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what estimate the Commission made of the number of electoral registration officers who have not fulfilled their statutory responsibilities in each of the last 10 years.

Bridget Phillipson: Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) have a statutory duty to maintain the electoral registers and to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that all those eligible (and no others) are registered. While the Electoral Commission sets standards for and monitors the performance of Electoral Registration Officers, these do not relate directly to this statutory duty. For this, EROs are independent statutory officers who are directly accountable to the courts.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent advice the Electoral Commission gave to Electoral Registration Officers on (a) maximising the registration of home movers and (b) sending voter registration forms to all households.

Bridget Phillipson: The Commission produces comprehensive written guidance for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) which covers the annual canvass process, including the sending of household enquiry forms. The guidance also covers targeting home movers, and the Commission also provides tools and resources to help EROs with carrying out this work.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, if the Electoral Commission will make it its policy to gather information on electoral registration levels on an annual basis.

Bridget Phillipson: The Commission carries out regular research studies assessing the accuracy and completeness of the registers. The most recent study, based on the December 2018 registers, will be published in the coming months. These important studies are resource intensive, and it would not be good value for money to do them annually.The Commission, does, however, gather data from Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) on the size of the electoral registers, as well as on other aspects of their activities to register electors, on an annual basis. This data is used as part of our ERO performance standards assessments and also supports the Commission’s ongoing monitoring of the effectiveness of the electoral registration system.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the target was for each voter registration campaign for the number of electors they hoped to register in the last five years; how much was allocated for each such campaign; and how much the Electoral Commission planned to spend on each registration campaign.

Bridget Phillipson: The table below sets out, for the last five years and for each voter registration campaign, the targets set for additions to the electoral register, and the budget allocated to be spent on each campaign.For 2015 to 2018, targets relate to additions to the register; for 2019, targets relate to the number of applications. Where targets are not available, this is because specific targets were not set owing to specific circumstances (for example, proximity to other polls).

Absent Voting

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what steps the Electoral Commission is taking to increase the take-up of postal votes.

Bridget Phillipson: The Electoral Commission does not take steps to encourage the take up of particular ways people can cast their vote, but rather provides guidance to support voters in taking their own informed decision.The only exception to this relates to overseas voters in the lead-up to a poll; where such voters are concerned that their returned postal ballot may not arrive in time, we specifically highlight the option of appointing a proxy.

Electoral Register: Internet

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how many electors have registered online since the introduction of online registration; and what steps the Electoral Commission is taking to encourage online registration.

Bridget Phillipson: The Electoral Commission does not hold data on how many electors have registered online; these figures will be held by the UK Government, which manages the online registration service.The Commission promotes voter registration ahead of specific electoral events through paid-for advertising campaigns. Directing people who are not registered to the government’s online registration page is the central call to action of this campaign activity.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what recent assessment the Electoral Commission has made of the potential benefits of using the (a) number and (b) proportion of UK citizens who have registered to vote as a measure of Electoral Commission effectiveness.

Bridget Phillipson: The Commission assessed the suitability of measures relating to electoral registration in preparing its Corporate Plan 2018/19 – 2022/23. The resulting document includes additions to the register as a measure of performance. We also have an impact indicator which relates to the levels of accuracy and completeness of the electoral registers in the UK.

Electoral Register: Advertising

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how much the Commission has spent on direct advertising in the last three years to increase registration of (a) young people aged 18 to 25 and (b) members of the expatriate community.

Bridget Phillipson: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 09 September 2019.The correct answer should have been:

None. The Commission has spent no money on this. Direct advertising (or marketing) does not form part of the Commission’s approach to its work encouraging voter registration.

Bridget Phillipson: None. The Commission has spent no money on this. Direct advertising (or marketing) does not form part of the Commission’s approach to its work encouraging voter registration.

Electoral Register: Advertising

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, how much the Electoral Commission spent on Facebook targeted advertisements for the purpose of increasing electoral registration on National Voter Registration Day in each of the last four years.

Bridget Phillipson: National Voter Registration Day was an initiative led by Bite the Ballot, which last took place in February 2016. As part of its activity to support the project, the Commission did not place any Facebook advertising.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2015 to Question 225166, on Electoral Register, if the Electoral Commission will conduct research on the comparative success of different methods of increasing levels of electoral registration.

Bridget Phillipson: The Electoral Commission conducts voter registration campaigns in the lead up to all major polls, adopting leading industry techniques and best practice. It evaluates the success of its electoral registration, to ensure continuous improvement. This includes tracking research to assess public reception to the campaign. Digital technology increasingly allows for testing of campaign approaches during the campaign itself, to further improve effectiveness and value for money.The Commission has developed effective partnerships with third party organisations, which enable it to extend the reach of its campaign messaging, particularly to known under-registered groups. It shares best practice with these partners and provides support and resources to other organisations running their own activities. It works particularly closely with local authorities, which have specific knowledge of under-registered groups in their areas.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what representations the Electoral Commission has received about monitoring and improving household canvasses from (a) hon. Members and (b) other bodies and individuals in each of the past four years.

Bridget Phillipson: Since 2016, the Commission has received letters from three Members of Parliament making representations about the annual electoral registration canvass of households, two in 2016 and one in 2018. The issues highlighted relate to a lack of clarity for constituents: about the purpose of the Household Enquiry Form sent during the canvass; about the wording used on the HEF; and about the purpose of a fine for failing to provide information in response to the form.The Commission regularly receives representations from a wide range of other bodies and individuals on electoral registration matters. The issues highlighted above have also been reflected in those representations.The Commission continues to work closely with the Cabinet Office to ensure that improvements to the current household canvass process will increase the future accuracy and completeness of the electoral registers.

Electoral Register: Sales

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what records the Committee holds on the income that local authorities receive from the sale of electoral registers to the private sector.

Bridget Phillipson: The prescribed fees for the sale of electoral registers are set out in legislation. The Commission provides comprehensive written guidance for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) which covers the supply of the registers on payment of the relevant prescribed fee. The Commission does not hold records in relation to the sale of electoral registers by EROs.

Electoral Register: Sales

Chris Ruane: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what steps the Electoral Commission has taken to tackle the sale by local authorities of the details of electors who have opted out of the open electoral register.

Bridget Phillipson: The supply of copies of the full register is limited to particular individuals and organisations prescribed in law. The Commission provides comprehensive written guidance for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) which covers the access and supply of the electoral registers. This guidance makes clear that it is the responsibility of the ERO to be satisfied that the individual or organisation making a request is entitled to receive the register before it is supplied.

Prime Minister

Cambridge Analytica

Deidre Brock: To ask the Prime Minister, when he last met (a) Alexander Nix and (b) staff members from Cambridge Analytica.

Boris Johnson: I refer the Hon member to the answer given on 27 March 2018 by my Rt Hon Friend, the then Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (official report Written question – 133927). Details of ministerial meetings with external organisations and individuals are published on the gov.uk website.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit: Fraud

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the answer of 22 July 2019 to Question 278344 on universal credit: fraud, what recourse is available to people, particularly vulnerable people, who have benefited financially but who were unaware that a universal credit advance was the source of the money.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit: Appeals

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit appeals are awaiting allocation of a hearing date because her Department has not yet sent an appeal response to HMCTS.

Will Quince: When a customer appeals a DWP decision this is made directly to HMCTS, who will schedule a tribunal date. Any question on waiting times would need to be answered by the MoJ.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department issues to (a) non-resident parents and (b) parents with care on changes to their child maintenance calculations when their case transfers from the Child Support Agency to the Child Maintenance Service.

Mims Davies: Ahead of closure Child Support Agency send customers a series of letters advising about their case closing and what they can do should they want child maintenance payments to continue. This advice includes making an advance application to the Child Maintenance Service, t o ensure there are no breaks in child maintenance. When the Child Support Agency case is closed, we write to non-resident parent during the stage where we are confirming the arrears position, to remind them of the amount we have worked out they owe. We advise them to contact us if they have any other relevant information which would impact this. A letter is then sent to receiving parent advising we have confirmed their balance of child maintenance. Where child maintenance is owed, we ask if the balance is correct and if they want their arrears written off or managed by Child Maintenance Service. Parents are provided with contact details to discuss their case, at all points. In cases where the arrears are moved to Child Maintenance Service, a letter is sent to both parties confirming their Child Support Agency case is fully closed. We also advise the unpaid child maintenance is now being managed by Child Maintenance Service. This provides the parent with the new telephone number they will need if they wish to contact Child Maintenance Service. Where there is a new Child Maintenance Service case, which was previously a Child Support Agency case, the calculation can change. This is because it is a fresh start under the new service, with new rules and data. At the outset of a Child Maintenance Service case, we issue an indicative calculation letter to the parents. This explains the new calculation, including the information used in the calculation. This provides opportunity for the non-resident parent to provide any further information that would impact the calculation. Following this we issue an initial calculation letter which confirms the calculation and the details used. Parents are advised they have the opportunity, throughout the application process and the life of the case as well as at annual review stage, to challenge the information used and request change.

Social Security Benefits: EEA Nationals

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proof of settled status is required for an EEA national who has been granted settled status and is applying for benefits.

Justin Tomlinson: Eligibility for income-related (means-tested) benefits, such as Universal Credit, depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK.EEA nationals who are habitually resident in the UK and have been granted settled status are eligible to access income-related benefits.Mechanisms are in place between DWP and the Home Office to verify settled status through the Habitual Residence Test Process.

Children: Maintenance

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people have had their (a) driving licence and (b) passport removed as a result of Child Maintenance Service enforcement measures.

Mims Davies: This information is not reported. However we do hold clerical data and can advise 15 driving licenses have been removed or suspended and 3 passports have been suspended. The information regarding committal orders, or sanctions as they are called in the Child Maintenance Service, are reported in our published statistics and can be on found table 11 of the tables document on the attached link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-august-2013-to-march-2019-experimental We reported enforcement activities in our CSA statistics until September 2017 when we reduced the number of tables published because most CSA cases had been closed or had begun the Case Closure process. The last publication including the enforcement activities can be found on table 22 of the attached link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-june-2017

Department for Work and Pensions: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

Department for Work and Pensions: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

Universal Credit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants, who are affected by the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children, have received (a) a payment advance on their claim, (b) a budgeting advance on their claim and (c) both.

Will Quince: Of the 21,700 claims affected by the policy to provide support for a maximum of two children on Universal Credit in April 2019; 11,500 (53%) received either a new claim or benefit transfer advance, 5,000 (23%) received a budgeting advance. Of those with new claim or benefit transfer advance 3,100 (14%) also received a budgeting advance.

Universal Credit: EU Nationals

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of trends in the number of non-UK EU citizens being refused universal credit in the last six months.

Mims Davies: Eligibility for Universal Credit depends on a person’s immigration status in the UK. In line with EU law, EEA nationals must be exercising a legal right to reside, such as worker or self-employed status, and be habitually resident in the UK to be eligible for income-related benefits. EEA nationals may now apply to the EU Settlement Scheme to protect their entitlement to access UK benefits and public services.The Department is committed to monitoring its policies, regularly reviewing and analysing the relevant data. The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Support for Mortgage Interest

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Support for Mortgage Interest Loans have been repaid since April 2018.

Will Quince: Since 1 April 2018 there have been 647 Support for Mortgage Interest Loans repaid in Great Britain and 36 have been repaid in Northern Ireland.

Universal Credit

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make an assessment of the compatibility of her Department’s policy of universal credit being digital by default with her Department’s Debt Management office being contactable only by (a) fax and (b) post rather than by secure email.

Mims Davies: Currently, most claimants who want to contact Debt Management call via one of the free phone numbers. However, we recognise the need for an online service to allow claimants to more easily manage any debts that they may have. Therefore, we are developing the Digital Debt Service as a replacement for our current Debt Manager system.This new system will allow claimants to view details of any debts they have (including the current balance) and make repayments online.

Children: Day Care

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the (a) affordability and (b) adequacy of provision of childcare for parents subject to the benefit cap.

Mims Davies: The Department for Work and Pensions has not undertaken a specific assessment of the affordability and adequacy of provision of childcare for parents subject to the benefit cap. As part of its evaluation of the benefit cap policy, we have commissioned the National Centre for Social Research to conduct a survey of capped households to assess the effects of the cap on claimants’ behaviours toward employment and the drivers behind different responses to the cap, which will include childcare availability and costs. We anticipate publishing the findings in the Autumn. The department recognises that high childcare costs can be a real barrier to parents taking up employment or increasing their working hours. To help overcome this, Universal Credit is more generous than legacy benefits in the support it provides towards childcare costs, with an increased level of support for childcare costs from 70% in legacy to up to 85% in Universal Credit. In addition, significant work has been undertaken within the department to raise awareness and understanding of the UC Childcare Offer amongst work coaches and work continues across Government to support take up of the different childcare offers, ensuring information is readily accessible for parents, providers and employers, including via digital channels. The Government now provides more support than ever before to help parents with the costs of childcare and will be spending a record amount of around £6 billion on childcare support in 2019-20.

Breastfeeding

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of (a) bringing forward legislative proposals to protect breastfeeding mothers at work and (b) reducing the promotion of breast-milk substitutes in order to improve infant feeding in the UK.

Mims Davies: In response to bringing forward legislative proposals to protect breastfeeding mothers at work, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is not proposing to introduce legislative changes to protect breastfeeding mothers in the workplace. Breastfeeding mothers are already protected under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 (the Workplace Regulations) The Workplace Regulations require employers to provide suitable rest facilities for breastfeeding mothers. Employers are also recommended to provide a private, healthy and safe environment for nursing mothers to express and store milk. Comprehensive online guidance on how employers can meet their legal requirements can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/mothers/ Research commissioned and published in 2016 by the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy found that almost all employers said they understood their legal responsibility to ensure a safe working environment for mothers returning from maternity leave. Often where difficulties arose in terms of health and safety, it was due to poor communication and a lack of ongoing discussion between managers and new and expectant mothers. HSE has published guidance which emphasises the importance of this to help address any issues or concerns. It can be found at http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg373.pdf On reducing the promotion of breast-milk substitutes, there is strict legislation currently in place in the form of the EU Directive (2006/141/EC) which regulates the composition, labelling and marketing of infant formulae and follow-on formulae. The Directive reflects scientific advice on the essential composition of infant formulae and follow-on formulae and discussions at an international level in the Codex Alimentarius forum. This Directive is implemented in England by the Infant Formula and Follow on Formula (England) Regulations 2007 and similar legislation applies in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Directive also gives effect to the principles and aims of the 1981 World Health Organisation (WHO) Code on the Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes by regulating labelling and restricting advertising and presentation of infant so as not to discourage breastfeeding. The new Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/127 will apply from 22nd February 2020; as a member state, the UK Government was fully involved and committed to the introduction of the new regime within the EU. In the event of EU Exit prior to 22 February 2020, the intention is therefore to make UK-wide legislation to mirror the delegated legislation as closely as possible, and to progress with implementation of the provisions.

Employment and Support Allowance: Medical Examinations

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what proportion of employment support allowance assessment meetings were carried out (a) at the claimant’s home and (b) in assessment centres in the last 12 months.

Justin Tomlinson: Between August 2018 and July 2019, 2.2 per cent of face-to-face Work Capability Assessments for Employment and Support Allowance claims were carried out at the claimant’s home and 97.8 per cent were carried out in an assessment centre.

Universal Credit

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has made an estimate of the number of claimants of  universal credit that have fallen into (a) council tax and (b) local authority rent arrears after transitioning from legacy benefits.

Will Quince: We have not made an assessment of this nature, we do not hold the data requested for council tax arrears and any change in rent arrears is not solely attributed to Universal Credit.The initial analytical work we have carried out with a single housing provider suggests that many tenants are arriving on Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears, supporting research carried out by the National Federation of ALMOs which shows over three quarters of their tenants come onto Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears. It also shows that arrears tend to increase prior to making a claim for Universal Credit, and that Universal Credit actually appears to be helping to clear arrears over time. We are currently extending this analysis to include a number of housing providers. It will be published when completed. We have responded to concerns in this area by putting a number of safeguards in place – 100 per cent advances repayable over 12 months, increasing to 16 months in October 2021; a two-week transition to Universal Credit Housing Payment; a new Help to Claim service; and Managed Payment to Landlord Arrangements, which allow for payments direct to the landlord if the tenant is likely to have difficulty in managing their rent payments, is unlikely to pay their rent or is in rent arrears equivalent to two months.

Universal Credit: Northern Ireland

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will place copies of Departmental documents which assess the impact of fortnightly payments of universal credit on claimants in Northern Ireland in the Library.

Will Quince: Social security matters are the responsibility of the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland. A number of Universal Credit flexibilities, including twice monthly payments, were agreed as part of the Fresh Start Agreement to allow the Department for Communities to deliver Universal Credit differently from the way it is delivered in GB, and responsibility for evaluating the effectiveness of those flexibilities rests with them. The Department for Communities plan to complete a composite evaluation of Welfare Reform in Northern Ireland. Once complete this will be placed in the House of Commons Library.

Social Rented Housing: Housing Benefit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of households in (a) Birkenhead constituency and (b) England that were subject to the under occupancy penalty contained one or more (i) person in employment (ii) child and (iii) person who is disabled in the most recent month for which data is available.

Will Quince: The Government has provided easements to allow an additional bedroom for couples and children who are unable to share a bedroom due to their disability or medical condition and are in receipt of a relevant qualifying benefit, or where a non-resident overnight carer (or group of carers) is required for an adult, child or non-dependant adult on a regular basis. As at April 2019, there were: a) 970 households in Birkenhead constituency who had a deduction made from their Housing Benefit due to the removal of the spare room subsidy. Of these, 130 (13%) had at least one person in employment and 190 (20%) had at least one dependent child. Additionally, in 730 (75%) the claimant or partner was receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Incapacity Benefit (IB), or Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA). It is not possible to ascertain the number of disabled people in each of these households. b) 240,350 households in England who had a deduction made from their Housing Benefit due to the removal of the spare room subsidy. Of these, 37,350 (16%) had at least one person in employment and 48,350 (20%) had at least one dependent child. Additionally, in 170,360 cases (71%) the claimant or partner was receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), Incapacity Benefit (IB), or Severe Disablement Allowance (SDA). It is not possible to ascertain the number of disabled people in each of these households. Figures do not include claimants on Universal Credit (UC) with a removal of the spare room subsidy (RSRS) deduction, as these data are not currently available.

Universal Credit

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions she has had with local authority leaders on the effect of the roll-out of universal credit on the level of demand for councils’ Local Welfare Provision schemes.

Will Quince: The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has regular contact with a range of partner organisations concerning Universal Credit including representatives from local government.The reforms to the Social Fund in 2013 allowed local authorities in England and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales to deliver their own local provision for people who are in need of urgent help. Local authorities are best placed to decide how to target flexible help to support local welfare needs.We passed funding over to local authorities and devolved administrations from April 2013. This gave them maximum flexibility to deliver services as they see fit according to local needs.New Burdens funding has been provided to councils to cover additional costs associated with Universal Credit. In 2017/18 the Department paid £13m in New Burdens funding and paid £14m in New Burdens for 2018/19. Last year we worked with a number of Local Authorities to refresh these costs resulting in £18m in New Burdens being paid in 2019/20. 67 Local Authorities received a total of £4.7m in extra payments to recognise alleged additional costs caused in the early stages of roll out.

Low Incomes

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government plans to take to mitigate the potential effect of increased prices in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on people on low incomes in receipt of out of work or disability benefits.

Justin Tomlinson: The Government has been clear that leaving the EU with a deal is its preferred option.However, as a responsible government we continue to plan for a range of exit scenarios, including a no-deal. As part of the process we continue to monitor the effects of EU exit on the economy. Rates of benefits continue to be reviewed in line with the relevant legislation for uprating.DWP has contingency plans in place to ensure we can continue to provide our vital services to those who need them. Individuals will continue to be able to access DWP benefits and services on the same basis as they do now.

Disability Living Allowance: Children

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the target time for processing a claim to renew disability living allowance for a child under 16 years of age is; and what estimate he has made of the (a) proportion and (b) total number of renewal claims which were processed within that target time in (i) 2010, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2019.

Justin Tomlinson: We do not hold robust data in relation to the number of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claims for a child under 16 years of age for 2010. At this time the figures for DLA included all renewals with no split in allocation for child versus adult. Please find attached a table containing the data that we hold in relation to the number of DLA renewals for a child under 16 years of age for the financial years 2014/15 and 2018/19. Note that the target time for clearance reduced from 44 days in 2014/15 to 40 days in 2018-19 DLA Child New Renewals 2014-20152018-2019Total Renewal Cleared68,14870,389% Renewals Cleared within 40 days target 82.6%% Renewals Cleared within 44 days target86.1% Total Renewals Cleared within target58,68058,171

Disability Living Allowance: Children

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what her Department's target time is for processing new claims for disability living allowance from a child under the age of 16; and what (a) percentage and (b) total number of new claims were dealt with within that target time in (i) 2010, (ii) 2015 and (iii) 2019.

Justin Tomlinson: We do not hold robust data in relation to the number of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) claims for a child under 16 years of age for 2010. At this time the figures for DLA included all claims with no split in allocation for child versus adult. Please find attached a table containing the data that we hold in relation to the number of DLA new claims for a child under 16 years of age for the financial years 2014/15 and 2018/19. DLA Child New Claims -2014-20152018-2019Total New Claims Cleared95,161113,815% New Claims Cleared within 40 days target76.6%96.2%Total New Claims Cleared within target72,920109,444 Source: Disability Living Allowance Computer System (DLACS) Notes: New Claims - includes Normal Rules and Special Rules Please note that the data supplied are derived from unpublished management information which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. They should therefore be treated with caution.

Department for Work and Pensions: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Social Security Benefits

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the benefit cap on the income of families with more than two children.

Mims Davies: In May 2019, 49,700 households had their Housing Benefit claim capped in Great Britain, of which 44,800 households had 2 or more dependent children. Claimants are exempt from the cap in Housing Benefit if they are entitled to Working Tax Credits. UC households are exempt if they have earnings of at least £569 per month. There are also exemptions for the most vulnerable groups such as severely disabled claimants and carers. In addition, households are exempt from the cap for 9 months (the grace period) if there is a previous consistent work history.The average weekly cap amount for households with 2 or more dependent children deducted from the Housing Benefit award was £56 in May 2019, compared to an average cap amount of £55 for all capped households.(Source: DWP Stat Xplore portal, ‘Benefit cap average amount by family type’ table)In May 2019, 25,700 households had their Universal Credit claim capped in Great Britain, of which 89% (23,000) had dependent children. Statistics on the Universal Credit capped caseload, by number of dependent children in the household, will be published for the first time on the DWP Stat-Xplore portal during the w/c 9th September.

Department for Work and Pensions: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what meetings her Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Justin Tomlinson: The Government has been clear that leaving the EU with a deal is its preferred option. The Government is, however, continuing to plan for a range of scenarios, including a no deal exit from the EU. These contingencies ensure that DWP can continue to provide our vital services and that individuals will continue to be able to access DWP benefits and services on the same basis as they do now.  MHCLG are the department responsible for EU exit preparedness for Local Authorities.

Social Security Benefits: Lone Parents

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the benefit cap on single parent households with dependent children in Scotland.

Mims Davies: The table below shows the number of households in Scotland that have had their Housing Benefit or Universal Credit capped between the introduction of cap and May 2019 (‘cumulative caseload’), and latest capped caseload in May 2019 (‘point in time caseload’), for all capped households and lone parents. Benefit cap caseload in ScotlandHousing BenefitUniversal CreditTotalLone parentsTotalLone parentsCumulative capped caseload (up to May 2016)12,5006,2001,100600% of which are lone parents-50%-53%Point-in-time capped caseload (May 2019)2,7001,800600400% of which are lone parents-67%-64%Source: DWP benefit cap official statistics up to May 2019, August 2019 publication Notes: 1) All figures are rounded to the nearest 100 households.2) Lone parents are defined are single person households with dependent children.3) For Housing Benefit claimants, the cumulative capped caseload is the number of households that have had their Housing Benefit capped between the introduction of the benefit cap on 15 April 2013 to May 2019.4) For Universal Credit claimants, the cumulative capped caseload is the number of households that had their Universal Credit capped between October 2016 and May 2019. Universal Credit benefit cap data is only available from October 2016 onwards. The average weekly cap amount under Housing Benefit for lone parents in Scotland in May 2019 was £60, compared to an average of £55 for all households in Great Britain. We do not currently publish the average cap amount for Universal Credit capped households, by family type, but are planning to publish this information for the first time on the DWP Stat-Xplore portal during the w/c 9th September.

Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will ensure that all personal independence payment assessments are recorded on the request of a claimant.

Justin Tomlinson: The audio recording of face-to-face consultations is not currently part of the contractual specification for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments. However, claimants may use their own equipment to audio record their face-to-face consultation, should they wish to, subject to any reasonable conditions the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) chooses to impose on such recordings. We want to improve the service that PIP claimants receive and in response to the Paul Gray Independent review and feedback from the Work and Pensions Select Committee, we announced in June 2018 that we would be piloting video recording of PIP assessments. The pilot commenced on 26 November 2018 and 192 video recordings have been completed. We are currently evaluating the findings from the video recording pilot and will provide an update on our future plans once this has been completed.

Universal Credit

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he she has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the repayment period for universal credit advance payments beyond twelve months.

Will Quince: Universal Credit new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed urgently, until their first UC payment is due. Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months. The Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that advances meet the needs of claimants and that recovery arrangements are personalised and reasonable. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the Universal Credit standard allowance and does not reduce other components of an award, such as money paid for children, housing or when someone is caring for a severely disabled person. From October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent and from October 2021 we are increasing the maximum recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months. The Department more broadly wants to ensure that vulnerable claimants receive the financial support they need, which is why we announced the addition of SDP payments. By August 29th, we had already paid over 6,300 claims, which together are worth over £16 million.

Low Incomes

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 22 August 2019 to Question 277684 on low incomes, whether the hardship payments are (a) new policy and (b) in addition to support already available; and how much those payments will be.

Justin Tomlinson: As confirmed in the response to the previous question, The Government has put in place contingency plans for a range of exit scenarios. These contingencies ensure that DWP can continue to provide our vital services and that individuals will continue to be able to access DWP benefits and services on the same basis as they do now.DWP continues to monitor the effects of EU exit on the economy.

Post Office Card Account

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason her Department decided to close the Post Office Card Account; and whether her Department has plans to introduce a replacement for that account.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

Employment: Disability

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Disability Employment Adviser Leaders are based in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales, (c) Northern Ireland, and (d) each region of England; and what estimate she has made of the number of Disability Employment Adviser Leaders in those areas in each of the next three years.

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what criteria her Department uses to assign Disability Employment Advisor Leaders to locations throughout the UK.

Justin Tomlinson: Each area receives an appropriate allocation of DEA’s and DEAL’s based on its size and claimant caseload. As at the end of August 2019 the Department has 104.29 full time equivalent (FTE) Disability Employment Adviser Leaders in place across the Jobcentre Network. The following table provides a breakdown of the number of FTE DEAL’s allocated by area as at the end of August 2019.  AreaDEAL (FTE)Scotland9.26Wales7.00North West9.26North East9.24North Central9.90West Midlands12.04North and East Midlands13.44London and Essex14.42South East10.23South West9.50 The figures provided are taken from the Departments ‘Activity Based Management’ (ABM) system. The data is derived from unpublished management information, collected and intended for internal departmental use and has not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard. The Northern Irish Assembly has devolved responsibility for social security benefits. As such any questions relating to staffing figures should be directed to the Department for Communities in Northern Ireland.

Social Security Benefits: Overpayments

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what processes her Department uses to agree a repayment rate with claimants for over-payments of welfare payments before making collections.

Guy Opperman: The Department seeks to recover benefit overpayments as quickly as possible without creating any undue financial hardship to the claimant. The initial rate of repayment applied for the recovery of a benefit overpayment is calculated based on three factors: How the overpayment occurred (through either fraud or error).Whether the claimant is in work.Whether any other deductions are applied to their Universal Credit award which might affect the amount that can be deducted.The Department understands that claimants’ individual circumstances can vary widely. If a claimant contacts the Department to say that they cannot afford the proposed rate of repayment, we will discuss this with the claimant and can re-evaluate their repayment rate. This re-evaluation will be based on income and expenditure, alongside internal data and the industry standard credit information we can access, with the aim of agreeing a sustainable rate of repayment.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many (a) passports and (b) driving licenses have been revoked as a result of a non-resident parent not paying Child Maintenance in each month since the Child Maintenance Service were given those powers.

Mims Davies: This information is not reported. However we do hold clerical data and can advise 15 driving licenses have been removed or suspended and 3 passports have been suspended. The information regarding committal orders, or sanctions as they are called in the Child Maintenance Service, are reported in our published statistics and can be on found table 11 of the tables document on the attached link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-august-2013-to-march-2019-experimental We reported enforcement activities in our CSA statistics until September 2017 when we reduced the number of tables published because most CSA cases had been closed or had begun the Case Closure process. The last publication including the enforcement activities can be found on table 22 of the attached link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-june-2017

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 4 July 2019 to Question 271510 on Children: Maintenance, how many times a Commanding Officer has delayed child maintenance payments as a result of a Service person being on military operations in each of the last five years.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Social Security Benefits: Dementia

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of benefit application procedures on (a) claimants with Alzheimer's disease and memory loss related illnesses and (b) their family and carers.

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to simplify the benefit claims process for (a) claimants with Alzheimer's disease and other memory loss related illnesses and (b) their families and carers.

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will make it her Department's policy to target early advice on benefit entitlements to (a) sufferers of Alzheimer's disease and memory loss-related illnesses and (b) their families and carers.

Justin Tomlinson: There is no specific policy covering the service offer for people suffering from or impacted by Alzheimer’s disease. However, it is DWP Policy to ensure customers who may be vulnerable or who have additional support needs, including those with Alzheimer's disease, are offered extra help and advice about claiming DWP benefits. This is regularly updated through Gov.uk.

Social Security Benefits: Dementia

Bob Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the merits of having a designated person in job centres and social security offices to provide information to claimants with Alzheimer's disease and memory loss-related illnesses and their carers.

Justin Tomlinson: DWP is committed to providing the best possible support for all our claimants, including the most vulnerable in society. We are continuously reviewing and improving the service for vulnerable people, including its claims processes, to ensure that it is accessible and responsive to their needs. Work coaches undergo a comprehensive learning journey which equips them with the tools, skills and behaviours required to support claimants with a range of disabilities and health conditions. This includes tailoring the support we provide to the needs of the customer, and the disabilities and health conditions they present with, and also extends to signposting to expert partner organisations for further support. Where the claimant is unable to attend the job centre due to their disability or health condition, we are able to offer a home visit from a DWP Visiting Officer.

Universal Credit

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the benefits freeze on the wellbeing of universal credit claimants.

Will Quince: An Impact Assessment of the benefit freeze was published in 2015, this is available in the link below.https://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006C.pdf

Universal Credit: Payments

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department plans to recalculate universal credit payments to take account of recipients who are required to make 53 rent payments in a year.

Will Quince: Neither tenants or landlords lose a week’s rent in a 53 weekly rent payment year as has been alleged; no year contains 53 weeks. The problem is alignment between weekly and monthly cycles. Each month the UC housing element is a constant figure but claimants with weekly tenancy agreements will be required to make either four or five rent payments within this period. If the claimant always pays their rent on time, in five payment months they are effectively making payment for part of the following month. That month will always be a four rent payment month, so the combination of the advance payment and the ‘overpayment’ of housing support during that month will get the claimant back on track.Where a landlord charges rent weekly on a Monday, because of the way the calendar falls every 5 or 6 years, they will seek 53 rent payments in a year, with the 53rd payment in part covering the tenancy for the first few days of the following year. The effect of this is that, over the course of the next housing association rental year, a tenant’s UC payments will accurately reflect their liability, irrespective of the 53 payment weeks.There is a separate issue with respect to the way the calculation in the Universal Credit regulations converts a weekly liability into a monthly allowance. The conversion is achieved by multiplying the weekly rent by 52 and then dividing by 12. This effectively means one day’s rent a year (two days in a leap years) are not covered by UC. We are currently considering whether this formulation around weekly rents, and potentially other weekly amounts in the UC calculation, should be amended.

Universal Credit

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the proportion of social security claimants who will receive less money once they have migrated to universal credit.

Will Quince: Comparisons between entitlement in legacy benefits and Universal Credit fail to reflect that, until recently, people only claimed Universal Credit as a result of a change in their circumstances.It is important to remember that there are £2.4 billion of unclaimed benefits not going to the people who need them because they are unaware of how to claim, or that they may be entitled. Universal Credit makes sure that welfare payments reach those who need them most, and when we complete moving legacy benefit claimants over to Universal Credit, an estimated 700,000 more people will get paid their full entitlement because of Universal Credit.The Government have committed to spending in excess of £3 billion over 10 years on transitional protection for 1.1 million households. This will help fund assistance for those moving from Housing Benefit to Universal Credit including a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.

Universal Credit

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what options her Department is considering to reduce the five week waiting time for universal credit claimants.

Will Quince: Nobody has to wait for five weeks for a payment following an application for Universal Credit (UC). UC new claim advances provide access to a payment for those in financial need, which can be accessed urgently, until their first regular UC payment is due. Claimants can access up to 100% of the total expected monthly award, for which they can pay back over a period of up to 12 months. The Department has taken a number of steps to ensure that advances meet the needs of claimants and that recovery arrangements are personalised and reasonable. The maximum rate of deductions cannot normally exceed 40 per cent of the UC standard allowance and does not reduce other components of an award, such as money paid for children, housing or when someone is caring for a severely disabled person. From October 2019 this will be reduced to 30 per cent and from October 2021 we are increasing the maximum recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months. This is just one of a number of measures the Department has put in place to support claimants such as paying those claimants moving from Housing Benefit to UC a two week ‘transitional housing payment’. We are also introducing a two-week run on for eligible claimants of Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment and Support Allowance from July 2020.

Local Housing Allowance

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has been made of the affordability of (a) one and (b) two bedroom properties for Local Housing Allowance claimants in each region of England and Wales.

Will Quince: The proportion of private market rents that are at or below the LHA rate for (a) one and (b) two bedroom accommodation for each region in England and Wales are set out below. This is based on:2019/20 LHA rates published here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-housing-allowance-lha-rates-applicable-from-april-2019-to-march-2020Valuation Office Agency data https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-housing-allowance-list-of-rents  1 Bed2 BedEast Midlands17%17%Eastern9%9%London7%7%North East26%25%North West23%22%South East10%10%South West14%14%West Midlands16%14%Yorks & the Humber20%21%Wales22%22%

Universal Credit: Deductions

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of universal credit payments were subject to a deduction for council tax arrears.

Will Quince: In May 2019, 54,000 (3%) Universal Credit payments were subject to a deduction for council tax arrears. Notes: The number of deductions is rounded to the nearest 1000The proportion is rounded to the nearest %

Social Security Benefits: Uprating

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of uprating benefits by CPI plus 2 per cent over the next four years, and will she make a statement.

Guy Opperman: The Secretary of State is bound by law to complete an annual review of benefit and pension rates to determine whether they have retained their value in relation to the general level of prices or - in the case of the full rate of the new State Pension, basic State Pension and Standard Minimum Guarantee (SMG) in Pension Credit - earnings. Where prices and earnings have increased relative to the value of those benefits or pensions, the Secretary of State must increase non-contributory benefits for additional disability needs and for carers, as well as Additional Pension, at least in line with the increase in prices. In the case of the basic and the full rate of the new State Pension, the triple lock guarantees that rates will be raised by the highest of the rise in prices, the rise in earnings, or 2.5% for the duration of this Parliament. The Secretary of State must also consider the rates of other benefits including working age benefits, and may decide to increase those at her discretion taking into account considerations such as the prevailing national economic circumstances and Government priorities at that time. She will make her assessment later this year and announce it ahead of the up-rating of benefits in April 2020. From that date she is able to implement a discretionary decision since the four-year freeze set by the Welfare Reform & Work Act 2016 will have lapsed.

Working Age Benefits: Chronic Illnesses and Disability

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the effect of the working age benefit freeze on people with (a) disabilities and (b) long term health conditions.

Justin Tomlinson: An Impact Assessment of the benefit freeze was published in 2015, this is available in the link below.https://www.parliament.uk/documents/impact-assessments/IA15-006C.pdf This benefit freeze excluded Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment, Attendance Allowance, the Support Group component of Employment and Support Allowance (for those not expected to look for work), disability premia in working-age benefits and the disabled elements of tax credits. This provides protection for those facing the additional cost of disability.

Universal Credit: Pilot Schemes

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her oral contribution of 22 July 2019 on Universal Credit managed migration, Official Report, column 1149-1150, if she will publish the advice she received from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments on the use of a negative Statutory Instrument for a pilot of managed migration and payments to severely disabled people who lost out in transferring to Universal Credit.

Will Quince: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit: Pilot Schemes

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to her oral contribution on 22 July 2019 on Unviersal Credit managed migration, Official Report, column 1149-1150, on what date her Department received advice from the Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments on the use of a negative Statutory Instrument for a pilot of managed migration and payments to severely disabled people who lost out in transferring to universal credit.

Will Quince: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Low Incomes

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people who will fall into the relative low income bracket if the UK leaves the EU without an agreement.

Will Quince: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the assessment procedure for personal independence payment.

Justin Tomlinson: Since introducing the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) Assessment in 2013, we have made significant improvements to our services in response to stakeholder feedback.In particular, we have carefully considered and learnt from two independent reviews of PIP as well as the 2018 Work and Pensions Select Committee’s Report on PIP assessments. To offer a transformed service to people with disabilities and health conditions, the DWP Health Transformation Programme will be integrating the services that deliver PIP and WCA from 2021.

Credit Unions

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the recent talks between the Minister for Pensions and Financial Inclusion and credit unions in Northern Ireland, what lessons have been learned by his Department on the expansion of credit unions for the England, Wales and Scotland.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Older Workers

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent steps her Department has taken to support older workers.

Mims Davies: The number of older people in employment is at a record high. There are now 10.6 million workers aged 50 and over in the workforce compared to 9.1 million five years ago. In 2018/19, the employment level for 50+ individuals in the Woking constituency was estimated at 19,300 (Source: Annual Population Survey, NOMIS). To support older workers to remain and return to the labour market, the Government has removed the Default Retirement Age meaning most people can choose when to retire, and extended the right to request flexible working to all employees with 26 weeks’ continuous service with their employer. We have appointed a Business Champion for Older Workers to engage and influence employers both strategically and in terms of practical advice. In February 2017, the UK Government published “Fuller Working Lives: a partnership approach” to set out the role employers, individuals and Government can play in supporting fuller working lives. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/587654/fuller-working-lives-a-partnership-approach.pdf And in February this year, DWP launched an online web page which brings together money, job and health elements of the mid-life MOT. https://www.yourpension.gov.uk/mid-life-mot/ To support employers, Business in The Community has also created MOT guides that support businesses. https://age.bitc.org.uk/tools-impact-stories/toolkits For people who simply can’t work, our welfare system will continue to provide a strong safety net, as it does for people of all ages now. We will spend £55 billion [£55.4bn] this year (2019/20) on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions. This is around 2.5% of GDP, and over 6% of government spending, and as a share of GDP, the UK’s public spending is second highest in the G7, bar Germany [OECD 2015 data].

Employment: Travel

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help jobseekers travel to find work.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Pensions: Chronic Illnesses

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to enable people affected with terminal illness to be able to transfer pension rights to a wife, husband or civil partner as part of their inheritance.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Personal Income

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment she has made of the change in the level of household income with two people in employment in 2019 and 2009.

Will Quince: Estimates for the net median equivalised weekly household income after housing costs of UK couples in employment where both are in work are presented below, for 2009/10 and 2017/2018 in both nominal and real terms (2017/18 prices).  2009/102017/18Nominal terms£560£561CPI-adjusted real terms£470£561 These figures have been taken from the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) survey tables from Stat-Xplore and are rounded to the nearest pound. Stat-Xplore data is publicly available at the link below:https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/webapi/jsf/tableView/tableView.xhtml#We do not have available data to 2019 and so have used the most recent data available which is to 2017/18.Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has shown that the reason there have not been higher increases in average incomes in working households is partly due to increases in employment over this period. They state that “falls in worklessness have brought relatively low-earning types of households (such as lone parents) into work”. A link to the report is available below:https://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/WP201912.pdf

Employment: Stress

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment the Health and Safety Executive has made of the effect of long-term trends in workplace stress on the mental and physical health of workers.

Mims Davies: HSE does monitor year on year statistics of work-related stress, using data gathered via the Labour Force Survey. The overall incidence rates have remained fairly stable over the last decade but have recently shown indications of an upward trend. This data is used as evidence to inform policy and strategy development. Within the statistics there are a series of sectors that have persistently higher than average rates of stress – education, health, local and central government. HSE has targeted these sectors more specifically, and its involvement has led to the development of practical tools and guidance to help support employers and employees in taking action to prevent and reduce the incidence of work-related stress and resulting mental health issues of anxiety and depression.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether benefit sanctions are applied in cases where parole or probation conditions have not been met satisfactorily.

Mims Davies: Benefit sanctions are only used when people fail to meet their agreed work-related conditionality requirements without good reason.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many times the Child Maintenance Service has used its power to disqualify non-compliant paying parents from holding or obtaining a (a) passport and (b) driving licence.

Mims Davies: This information is not reported. However we do hold clerical data and can advise 15 driving licenses have been removed or suspended and 3 passports have been suspended.The information regarding committal orders, or sanctions as they are called in the Child Maintenance Service, are reported in our published statistics and can be on found table 11 of the tables document on the attached link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-maintenance-service-august-2013-to-march-2019-experimentalWe reported enforcement activities in our CSA statistics until September 2017 when we reduced the number of tables published because most CSA cases had been closed or had begun the Case Closure process. The last publication including the enforcement activities can be found on table 22 of the attached link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-june-2017

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the total amount owed by the 100 non-resident parents who have the largest outstanding child maintenance arrears under the Child Maintenance Service.

Mims Davies: At the end of March 2019, the 100 non-resident parents with the largest amount of unpaid child maintenance arranged by the Child Maintenance Service collectively owed £3.5m, rounded to the nearest £0.1m.

Pension Credit

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will publicise to eligible pensioners their right to claim pension credit.

Guy Opperman: It is important to highlight that there are over 1.6 million people already claiming some £5.4 billion in Pension Credit but the Government wants to ensure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled. On a national basis the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to Pension Credit at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits including Pension Credit to potential customers; including information on https://gov.uk/, in leaflets and by telephone. We know that often the best ways to reach eligible customers is through trusted stakeholders working in the community. That is why we have developed and resourced the Pension Credit toolkit which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit and contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. In addition, the Pension Credit calculator https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator enables potential customer to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive; and of course the easiest way to make a Pension Credit claim is via the Freephone number 0800 99 1234.

Personal Independence Payment: Medical Examinations

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to ensure that future contracts for carrying out personal independence payment assessments contain provision for financial penalties for cases where inaccurate advice has been given to the Department in relation to their decision on an applicant's health and well-being.

Justin Tomlinson: The current contracts for Personal Independence Payment assessments include numerous financial remedies, including several related to the quality of the assessment report. The terms and conditions of the future contracts for health assessments are still being worked through, but will include financial remedies and will build on what we have learned from previous contracts.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average cost was to her Department of personal independence payment appeals which over-turned the decision of her Department over the last two years.

Justin Tomlinson: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Asbestos: Diseases

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the number of people who have an asbestos-related disease other than mesothelioma who are unable to claim compensation due to the fact that a liable insurer cannot be identified.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department does not hold this information.

Asbestos: Diseases

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report, Estimates of the impact of extending the scope of the payment scheme in the Mesothelioma Bill to include other asbestos related diseases and other non-asbestos work related diseases, published in June 2013, if she will review and update that report.

Justin Tomlinson: The Mesothelioma Act 2014 established the Diffuse Mesothelioma Payment Scheme (DMPS). The DMPS makes lump sum payments to people who contract diffuse mesothelioma from negligent exposure to asbestos in the workplace, but are unable to pursue a civil claim because their former employer no longer exists and their former employer’s insurer cannot be traced. The DMPS is funded by a levy paid by insurers who are active in the Employer’s Liability insurance market.This Scheme makes payments to eligible sufferers of diffuse mesothelioma only. Since this disease is always fatal and always caused by asbestos, it has been possible to implement DMPS as a simple payment scheme. Other asbestos-related diseases and other non-asbestos work related diseases have more uncertainties regarding cause, severity and aggravation by other factors and this complexity is not compatible with a straightforward tariff-based scheme such as the DMPS. The report published on 6 December 2013 highlighted the adverse impact on the amount of the levy should the scope of the Scheme be widened, which would also require a re-designing of the scheme, the legislation, and the commercial requirements.There are no plans to update the 2013 report or extend eligibility to the DMPS.

Asbestos: Compensation

Martin Docherty-Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that sufferers of asbestos-related diseases other than mesothelioma who cannot identify a liable insurer are able to claim full compensation.

Justin Tomlinson: Anyone who contracts Pneumoconiosis, bilateral diffuse pleural thickening, or primary carcinoma of the lung when accompanied by asbestosis or bilateral diffuse pleural thickening, through work may be eligible for compensation under the Pneumoconiosis Etc. (Workers’ Compensation) Act 1979 scheme.This scheme is open to current and former employees, including those who cannot identify a liable insurer. Information on eligibility is provided on gov.uk.

Personal Independence Payment: Older People

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether all recipients of personal independence payment (PIP) aged 65 or above will no longer receive reassessments to ensure continued receipt of PIP unless they inform her Department that their needs have changed.

Justin Tomlinson: From 31 May this year, new claimants to PIP - whose review would have been scheduled after they had reached State Pension age - are now receiving an ongoing award with a light touch review after the ten-year point. From 9 July this year, we began moving existing PIP claimants, who have reached state pension age, onto ongoing awards with a light touch review after the ten-year point. All claimants who report a change of circumstance will be reviewed in order to ensure that the claimant is receiving the correct level of award.

Social Security Benefits

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the potential (a) mortality rate and (b) number of suicides among benefit claimants in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department does not record mortality rates or information on the causes of benefit claimants’ deaths, as there is no causal relationship between somebody claiming a benefit and their death. The Government has been clear that leaving the EU with a deal is its preferred option. The Government is, however, continuing to plan for a range of scenarios, including a no deal exit from the EU. These contingencies ensure that DWP can continue to provide our vital services and that individuals will continue to be able to access DWP benefits and services on the same basis as they do now.

Personal Independence Payment

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions officials in the Department have had with Motability to enable people awarded 10 points for the mobility component of a personal independence award to join the scheme using the standard rate award and a top-up made by the claimant.

Justin Tomlinson: Officials for the Department for Work and Pensions meet regularly with Motability, the charity. Senior officials attend the quarterly Board of Governors meetings and at a working level, officials have regular discussions regarding the Motability Scheme. These discussions cover a range of areas of interest for both the Department and Motability. However, while the Department works closely with Motability, it is an independent charity that is responsible for the oversight of the Scheme. Legislation currently only allows claimants in receipt of the higher rate of DLA or the enhanced rate of PIP mobility component to be direct transferred to Motability and therefore join the Scheme.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons her Department has decided that a 30 per cent deduction from a universal credit claimant’s standard allowance prevents those claimants from being exposed to excessive financial hardship.

Will Quince: A claimant’s Universal Credit award will reflect individual circumstances, topping up any earnings or other income that they may have, so Universal Credit may constitute only a proportion of their total income. Our deductions policy is designed to protect vulnerable claimants by providing a last resort method for arrears of essential services which might otherwise result in those services being cut off, or being evicted from their home. Under Universal Credit there is a structured approach to deductions from benefit, which simplifies the current complex arrangements of the legacy system. This policy also enables social obligations to be enforced when other repayment methods have failed or are not cost effective. If a claimant is in financial difficulty as a result of the level of deductions being made they can contact the Department to request that a reduction in deductions be considered. Any adjustment to the rate of repayment will be based on the individual circumstances of the claimant. To support this intention, from October 2019 we are reducing the maximum rate of deductions to 30 per cent and from October 2021 we are increasing the maximum recovery period for advances from 12 to 16 months.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 20 June 2019 to Question 254731 on Universal Credit, for what reason there is a difference between the number of men and women that have been unable to repay their advance within 12 monthly instalments narrows for those aged 40 years old and over.

Will Quince: The data supplied in answer to Question 254731 used May 2019 figures. This showed that of the 264,500 with an advance repayment more than 12 months old, 83,500 were aged over 40 years old, and 49,500 (59%) of those were male, and 34,000 (41%) were female. We would expect there to be a difference in the advances outstanding over 12 months’ figures, although the gender split in the original table is more pronounced. We have no evidence to explain this greater gender difference in outstanding advances over 12 months old. All data used in researching this response has been sourced from internal management information. It offers a snapshot in time and cannot be compared to any other, similar data released by the Department

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information her Department holds on reductions to deductions for claimants of universal credit in latest period for which data is available.

Will Quince: The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many claimants of universal credit received a (a) budgeting loan and (b) deferral period in the latest period for which data is available.

Will Quince: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the delivery of data via the Data Hub since the introduction of universal credit.

Will Quince: The Data Hub is a secure mechanism for sharing data with local authorities not only for Universal Credit purposes, but for wider data share requirements across central and local Government and has been effective in doing so. The Department has plans to iterate and enhance the current data shared in the future and are working with local authority colleagues to support this.

Universal Credit

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the process is for (a) Skills Development Scotland and (b) other employment support agencies to be provided with access to data on claimants aged (i) 18 and (ii) 19 years that come off universal credit at the same level as they were prior to the roll-out.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department has been sharing data with Skills Development Scotland’s (SDS) since 2012 to support the Scottish Government’s commitments to 16-19 year olds and its Opportunities for All programme.We have continued to work collaboratively with SDS to extend this data share to meet SDS needs – initially this was to extend to 18-24 year olds and then to include destination data. This is due to the Scottish Government’s commitment to ensure that the majority of places on the National Training Programmes, such as Modern Apprenticeships, are aimed at 16-24 year olds; and to maintaining priority in university and college places for young people.

Children: Maintenance

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reasons regulation 4(1) of the Child Support (Child Support Maintenance) Calculations Regulations 2012 provides that a relevant tax year for the calculation of child maintenance by a paying parent is any one of the six years immediately preceding the date of request and not the most recent year for which tax data is available.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Personal Independence Payment

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the average time taken was to process a mandatory reconsideration for personal independence payment in the last 12 months for which information is available.

Justin Tomlinson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

Personal Independence Payment

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the maximum time taken was to process a mandatory reconsideration for personal independence payment in the last 12 months for which information is available.

Justin Tomlinson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

Children: Maintenance

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many paying parents are in maintenance arrears through the Child Maintenance Service; and how much unpaid maintenance remains outstanding in Dunfermline and West Fife constituency.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Maintenance

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of Child Maintenance Service income challenges by paying parents were as a result of private pension payments not being deducted from income calculations.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Maintenance

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Child Maintenance Service complaints were made by paying parents in relation to income data not being used to calculate payments; and what proportion of those complaints were upheld in the last three years.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the time taken for benefit claimants to receive decision letters containing a four week deadline for appeal by post; and what assessment she has made of the effect of postal delays on the time available for claimants to make an appeal.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate her Department has made of the number of people in rent arrears since the roll-out of universal credit.

Will Quince: The Department has not made an assessment of this nature, as any change in rent arrears is not solely attributed to Universal Credit.The initial analytical work we have carried out with a single housing provider suggests that many tenants are arriving on Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears, supporting research carried out by the National Federation of ALMOs which shows over three quarters of their tenants come onto Universal Credit with pre-existing rent arrears. It also shows that arrears tend to increase prior to making a claim for Universal Credit, and that Universal Credit actually appears to be helping to clear arrears over time. We are currently extending this analysis to include a number of housing providers. It will be published when completed.We have responded to concerns in this area by putting a number of safeguards in place – 100 per cent advances repayable over 12 months, increasing to 16 months in October 2021; a two-week transition to Universal Credit Housing Payment; a new Help to Claim service; and Managed Payment to Landlord Arrangements, which allow for payments direct to the landlord if the tenant is likely to have difficulty in managing their rent payments, is unlikely to pay their rent or is in rent arrears equivalent to two months.

Money and Pensions: Advisory Services

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding was provided to (a) the Money Advice Service, (b) the Pensions Advisory Service and (c) Pension Wise in each of the five years up to and including 2018.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Money and Pensions Service: Finance

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much funding the Money and Pension Service will receive in 2019.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access by universal credit claimants to organisations providing services to manage money in each area served by a job centre.

Will Quince: Jobcentre staff have access to information on services and support available in their local area for claimants and will signpost claimants to national and local organisations who provide specialist debt and money management support.In addition, support is available for Universal Credit claimants via the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS). MaPS will help UC claimants with personal budgeting and money management through its free helpline, printed guides and digital guidance.For those UC claimants who are in most need of debt advice, MaPS will continue to work with the DWP and other agencies to ensure that they are signposted and referred quickly to local provision – MaPS funds free-to-consumer debt advice in England through a network of providers including StepChange, the Money Advice Trust and Citizens Advice.

Unemployment: Mental Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of unemployment on a person's mental health.

Justin Tomlinson: The Department of Health and Social Care and the Department for Work and Pensions recognise the impact unemployment can have on an individual’s mental health. An independent review* of the scientific evidence on the relationship between work and health, commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions, found strong evidence that unemployment is generally harmful to health and linked with poorer mental health, psychological distress, and psychiatric morbidity. Our jobcentre staff work in partnership with mental health providers and services to ensure individuals experiencing unemployment receive the necessary help they need to support them in their job search, work entry and job retention.Notes: * Waddell G and Burton AK. (2006). Is work good for your health and well-being. London: TSO.

Personal Independence Payment

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to ensure that personal independence payment rejection letters are empathetic.

Justin Tomlinson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Incapacity Benefit

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to support long-term incapacity benefit claimants into work.

Justin Tomlinson: The Government has an ambitious objective to see 1 million more disabled people in work by 2027. We are committed to supporting long-term incapacity benefit claimants into work. With effect from April 2017, we introduced the Personal Support Package for claimants on Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit throughout the Jobcentre Plus network. This initiative is expanding and improving the help we offer to those with disabilities and health conditions. It offers support for ESA and UC claimants to prepare for, find and enter work, but also ensures that we have enough work coaches and advisers to provide that support. The Work and Health Programme (WHP) was launched throughout England and Wales on a rolling basis between November 2017 and March 2018 and will provide innovative support for around 275,000 people over five years. The third set of experimental WHP statistics was published on 30 May 2019, and found that 78% of starts were people with a health condition or disability, 9% were people in an early access priority group and 13% were long-term unemployed. Although it’s still very early in the life of WHP, as of February 2019 3,140 participants had achieved a Job Outcome. From the December 2017 cohort, who had received 14 months of support, 23% have achieved a Job Outcome. Access to Work continues to offer eligible individuals practical advice and a discretionary grant of up to £59,200 per year to fund support above the level of an employer’s statutory obligation to make reasonable adjustments, and this can communication support at interviews for people moving into work. The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced in December 2018 that we would be investing more than £40m in the new Intensive Personalised Employment Support Programme (IPES), a highly personalised package of support for disabled people who are at least a year away from moving into work. IPES is expected to be in place by the end of 2019 and run for a period of 4 years from the start of the contract. IPES will provide support for around 2,500 starts per year, totalling 10,000 on the programme.

Independent Case Examiner

Mr Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment she has made of the average time taken by the Independent Case Examiner to review cases submitted by claimants; and if she will make a statement.

Mims Davies: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit: Fraud

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the legal basis is for her department to ask claimants who are victims of third-party universal credit fraud to attend an interview under caution at a Jobcentre rather than provide a witness statement.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit: Fraud

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work of 8 July 2019, Official Report, Column 321, if she will provide details of the successful third-party universal credit fraud prosecution.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit: Fraud

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to her oral contribution to the Work and Pensions Committee of 24 July 2019, how many of the 1,400 cases to have undergone interview under caution due to third-party universal credit fraud have been referred for prosecution.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit: Fraud

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many third parties who have allegedly scammed people into making a universal credit claim have been identified and investigated; and how many of those third parties have been referred for prosecution.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

Universal Credit: Fraud

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, at what point during the universal credit claim process her Department checks claims for potentially fraudulent details.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit: Fraud

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to prevent third-party universal credit fraud.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universal Credit: Fraud

Ruth George: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to prevent cases of third-party universal credit fraud taking place during managed migration.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Occupational Pensions: Birmingham Edgbaston

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.

Guy Opperman: Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Workplace pension participation rates are being transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into one in 2018, up from 55% in 2012. The DWP does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates. In the Birmingham, Edgbaston constituency, since 2012, approximately 10,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,630 employers have met their duties. Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf. The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests

Occupational Pensions: Neath

Christina Rees: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Neath constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.

Guy Opperman: Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Workplace pension participation rates are being transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into one in 2018, up from 55% in 2012. The DWP does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates. In the Neath constituency, since 2012, approximately 3,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 860 employers have met their duties. Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf. The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests

Occupational Pensions: Twickenham

Sir Vince Cable: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people in Twickenham constituency have (a) opted out after being auto-enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.

Guy Opperman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Occupational Pensions: North Durham

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the proportion of people in North Durham constituency who have (a) opted out after being automatically enrolled into a workplace pension and (b) saved more than the auto-enrolment minimum contribution.

Guy Opperman: Automatic enrolment has achieved a quiet revolution through getting employees into the habit of pension saving, and reversing the decline in workplace pension participation in the decade prior to these reforms. Workplace pension participation rates are being transformed with 87% of eligible employees saving into one in 2018, up from 55% in 2012. The DWP does not hold data for individual constituencies in relation to opt outs or the number of individuals who have saved above the automatic enrolment minimum contribution level. However, we do know that overall around 9% of automatically enrolled workers have chosen to opt out which is significantly below original estimates; and our latest evaluation report shows that, in April 2017, approximately 5.9 million eligible employees were already meeting the April 2019 minimum contribution rates. In the North Durham constituency, since 2012, approximately 6,000 eligible jobholders have been automatically enrolled and 1,090 employers have met their duties. Automatic Enrolment Evaluation Report 2018, available via the following weblink: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/764964/Automatic_Enrolment_Evaluation_Report_2018.pdf. The Pensions Regulator’s data on Automatic enrolment declaration of compliance by constituency, available via the following weblink: https://www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/en/document-library/research-and-analysis/data-requests

Home Office

UK-France Migration Committee

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12th February to Question 218262 on UK-France Migration Committee, for what reason the dates and locations of those meetings were not provided in the answer.

Charlie Elphicke: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2019 to Question 217548 on Human Trafficking and Immigration: France, whether any other payments in cash or kind have been made to France in connection with (a) border security, (b) infrastructure and (c) countering organised crime and people trafficking in addition to those set out in that answer.

Seema Kennedy: As previously advised in the response to Question 218262, the UK-France Migration Committee meets on a bi-monthly basis and is hosted alternately by the UK Home Office and French Interior Ministry. It is not Home Office policy to release detailed information on meetings that ministers and/or officials attendAs regards payments to the French Government, no additional payments have been made beyond those detailed in the response to Question 217548, dated 12th February 2019.

Firearms and Knives: Haringey

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the number of incidents involving (a) knives and (b) firearms in the London Borough of Haringey for 2018.

Kit Malthouse: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 05 March 2019.The correct answer should have been:

The information requested is not collected centrally.The Home Office collects data on the number of offences involving knives or firearms recorded by the police in England and Wales at the Police Force Area level but not at local authority level.Information on offences involving knives / sharp instruments or firearms by Police Force Area can be found in the Offences involving the use of weapons data tables published by the Office for National Statistics, available here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/offencesinvolvingtheuseofweaponsdatatablesThe information requested is not collected centrally.The Home Office collects data on the number of offences involving knives or firearms recorded by the police in England and Wales at the Police Force Area level but not at local authority level.Information on offences involving knives / sharp instruments or firearms by Police Force Area can be found in the Offences involving the use of weapons data tables published by the Office for National Statistics, available here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/offencesinvolvingtheuseofweaponsdatatables

Mr Nick Hurd: The information requested is not collected centrally.The Home Office collects data on the number of offences involving knives or firearms recorded by the police in England and Wales at the Police Force Area level but not at local authority level.Information on offences involving knives / sharp instruments or firearms by Police Force Area can be found in the Offences involving the use of weapons data tables published by the Office for National Statistics, available here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/offencesinvolvingtheuseofweaponsdatatablesThe information requested is not collected centrally.The Home Office collects data on the number of offences involving knives or firearms recorded by the police in England and Wales at the Police Force Area level but not at local authority level.Information on offences involving knives / sharp instruments or firearms by Police Force Area can be found in the Offences involving the use of weapons data tables published by the Office for National Statistics, available here:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/offencesinvolvingtheuseofweaponsdatatables

Surveillance: Cameras

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by what date the updated guidelines for the Surveillance Camera Code of Conduct will be published.

Kit Malthouse: The Government committed in the Home Office Biometrics Strategy 2018 to review the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice and it will be updated in due course.

Visas: Africa

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which UK visa application centres in Africa were closed between 2017 and 2019.

Seema Kennedy: UK Visas & Immigration closed no Visa Application Centres in Africa between 2017 and 2019. However, in the same period we opened additional centres in Kenya (Mombasa), Morocco (Casablanca) and Algeria (Oran). We have also introduced an annual Visa Application Centre in the Seychelles for our customers applying for student visas.

Home Office: Overtime

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate he has made of the amount of unpaid overtime worked by staff in his Department in the last 24 months.

Victoria Atkins: Information about additional hours worked by staff is not held centrally and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. Flexible work arrangements are available for staff to work outside core hours when necessary, e.g. flexi time, time off in lieu or for operational units Annualised Hours Work as an alternative to overtime. However, these arrangements are processed and monitored locally.

Stop and Search: Merseyside

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the stop and search powers available to Merseyside Police officers who suspect an individual of carrying a knife.

Mr Nick Hurd: Stop and search is a vital policing tool when used correctly and officers have the Government's full support to use these powers in a way that is fair, lawful and effective.Under Section 1 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the police in England and Wales have the power to stop and search someone if they have reasonable grounds to suspect they are in possession of an offensive weapon, including a bladed article - such as a knife.Under Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the police in England and Wales have the power to put in place temporary “no-suspicion” stop and search zones – if they reasonably believe that incidents involving serious violence may take place in that locality during that time period. When this power is authorised, police can search anyone within that area without requiring reasonable grounds to search each person.In March 2019, the Government announced that it would roll back additional controls on the use of Section 60 powers to make it easier for officers in seven forces, including Merseyside Police, to authorise this power – to help forces further target the recent increases in serious violence.Whilst it is important for the police to have the right powers, they also need the resources to use them. This is why we are also supporting police with additional funding. On 13 March 2019 the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £100 million fund to tackle serious violence. £63.4 million of this funding has already been allocated to 18 police forces, including Merseyside Police which received £4.2 million, to support surge operational activity, such as increased patrols.This money is already being put to good use. The BBC recently reported that Merseyside had recovered 14 knives in a single week following stop and searches.

Drugs: Organised Crime

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people involved in the criminal exploitation of vulnerable young people in county lines operations have been charged with modern slavery offences.

Victoria Atkins: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 09 September 2019.The correct answer should have been:

It is important that the police and local agencies have the powers they need to tackle local issues quickly and effectively. That is why we reformed the tools and powers available to tackle Anti-Social behaviour through the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.In 2019/20 Lancashire Police are receiving £285.1 million of funding, an increase of £18.4 million, on 2018/19. Funding for 2020-21 for individual forces will be announced as part of the provisional police settlement later this year. Decisions about the allocation of police resources are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioners, who are best placed to meet the needs of their local community.The police and Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) are responsible for charging decisions with regards to county lines related criminality. The key is that prosecutions are brought, and the charges should cover the full range of criminality involved including Modern Slavery offences.We are working with the police and the CPS to take full advantage of powers in the Modern Slavery Act when making charging decisions against county line gang members. The CPS have issued an overview of the approach to be taken in criminal investigations and prosecutions linked to ‘county lines’ offending, with a particular focus on the relevance of the Modern Slavery Act.

Victoria Atkins: It is important that the police and local agencies have the powers they need to tackle local issues quickly and effectively. That is why we reformed the tools and powers available to tackle Anti-Social behaviour through the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.In 2019/20 Lancashire Police are receiving £285.1 million of funding, an increase of £18.4 million, on 2018/19. Funding for 2020-21 for individual forces will be announced as part of the provisional police settlement later this year. Decisions about the allocation of police resources are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioners, who are best placed to meet the needs of their local community.The police and Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) are responsible for charging decisions with regards to county lines related criminality. The key is that prosecutions are brought, and the charges should cover the full range of criminality involved including Modern Slavery offences.We are working with the police and the CPS to take full advantage of powers in the Modern Slavery Act when making charging decisions against county line gang members. The CPS have issued an overview of the approach to be taken in criminal investigations and prosecutions linked to ‘county lines’ offending, with a particular focus on the relevance of the Modern Slavery Act.

Emergency Services Network

Douglas Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff have been employed in the programme team to deliver the Emergency Services Network, in each month since that Network was established.

Kit Malthouse: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Armed Forces: Commonwealth

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent representations she has received on the level of visa fees for Commonwealth UK Armed Forces personnel applying for Indefinite Leave to Remain; and if she will (a) review and (b) undertake a public consultation on the current policy.

Seema Kennedy: The Home Office has listened closely to representations made by a variety of campaigns and MPs on immigration issues affecting Commonwealth members of HM Forces and their families.We have received recent representations from the Royal British Legion “stop the service charge” and are aware of a public e-petition to waive settlement fees for Commonwealth nationals who served in HM Forces.While there are no current plans to offer an exemption from paying a settlement fee to former military personnel, this specific area of policy is regularly reviewed. There are no plans to launch a public consultation on the question of waiving settlement fees.The Home Office remains committed to upholding our obligations under the Armed Forces Covenant. The Home Office, along with all Government Departments, recognises the outstanding service of all members of the Armed Forces, including the many service personnel who are foreign and Commonwealth nationals.

Fraud: Older People

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to raise awareness of telephone scams that target elderly people.

Victoria Atkins: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Police: Recruitment

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Prime Minister's Downing Street Statement of 24 July 2019, how the additional 20,000 police officers will be distributed to each region.

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Prime Minister's statement of 24 July 2019, how many new police officers will be deployed to (a) London and (b) Haringey.

Kit Malthouse: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Animal Experiments: Licensing

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, how many project licences that include the forced swim test as an element of the programme of work (a) are currently in operation and (b) have been approved in each of the past five years; whether the forced swim test has been approved for use within multiple generic projects; and if she will make a statement.

Victoria Atkins: Data are not collected on numbers of project licences that include the forced swim test.The Home Office ensures that animals are only used when necessary and under strict controls which keep suffering to a minimum. Any research which we licence must undergo a thorough harm-benefit analysis including ensuring that the planned work implements the 3Rs (replacement, reduction and refinement).

Domestic Abuse

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is Government policy to bring forward the Domestic Abuse Bill in autumn 2019.

Victoria Atkins: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

UK Visas and Immigration: Sopra Steria

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what penalties the Government could apply to Sopra Steria if it does not comply with its key performance indicators on the biometrics contract it has with UKVI.

Seema Kennedy: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given on the 13th June 2019, UIN 262238

Sikhs

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish the (a) research and (b) reports that her Department has commissioned and requested on (i) the Sikh community and (ii) Sikh groups and organisations in each of the last three years.

Brandon Lewis: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Football: Money Laundering

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of the 92 football league teams have been the subject of money laundering investigations in the last five years; and how many of those investigations are ongoing.

Brandon Lewis: Money laundering investigations are a matter for law enforcement agencies, who are operationally independent.

Immigration

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 23 July 2019 on Immigration, HCWS1803, when the review of guidance to ensure the right decisions are being made will be completed: and if she will publish its conclusions.

Seema Kennedy: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 09 September 2019.The correct answer should have been:

My Department recognises the importance of this issue. The Secretary of State will write to the Rt Hon member with an update when a decision has been made.New guidance for decision makers is currently being drafted. My expectation is that the guidance, once finalised, will be published on gov.uk

Seema Kennedy: My Department recognises the importance of this issue. The Secretary of State will write to the Rt Hon member with an update when a decision has been made.New guidance for decision makers is currently being drafted. My expectation is that the guidance, once finalised, will be published on gov.uk

Immigration

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 23 July 2019 on Immigration, HCWS1803, when the update of operational guidance to ensure no further action is taken in cases where there is no evidence an ETS certificate was used in an immigration application will take effect; and if she will publish that updated guidance.

Seema Kennedy: New guidance for decision makers is currently being drafted. My expectation is that the guidance, once finalised, will be published on gov.uk

Immigration: EU Nationals

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the status of EU (a) nationals and (b) doctors working in the UK will be if they do not apply to the EU Settlement Scheme by 31 December 2020.

Brandon Lewis: Individuals working in the UK who are eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme but fail to do so by 31 December 2020 in a no-deal EU-exit scenario will not have lawful status under UK immigration legislation. The Government has made clear that we will accept late applications to the scheme from those who have reasonable grounds for missing the deadline.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to make the EU Settlement Scheme App available on Apple devices before the UK's scheduled departure from the EU on 31 October 2019.

Brandon Lewis: EU citizens make a huge contribution to our economy and society, and we want them to stay. The EU Settlement Scheme enables them to do so. The ‘EU Exit: Identity Document Check’ app is an optional aspect of the service which allows applicants to prove their identity remotely using their biometric identity document and an android smartphone device.We have been working closely with Apple over a number of months and expect the first IOS version of the EU Settlement Scheme app to be available in October.Despite this there are numerous ways in which those eligible can apply, including by post.

Police and Crime Commissioners: Standards

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of (a) developing or (b) tasking the College of Policing to develop key performance indicators to evaluate the effectiveness of Police and Crime Commissioners.

Kit Malthouse: The Government believes in local policing, accountable to local communities. That is why we abolished all central Government targets and introduced directly-elected and locally accountable Police and Crime Commissioners. They are best placed to make decisions with their communities based on their local knowledge and experience and must defend their records to the public every four years via the ballot box.

Domestic Abuse: Disclosure of Information

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to review how Clare's Law is implemented by police forces in England and Wales.

Victoria Atkins: Domestic abuse is a devastating crime and the Government is committed to doing everything we can to tackle it.The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme (DVDS, also known as “Clare’s Law”) was rolled out across all 43 police forces in England and Wales in March 2014, and recent data shows that applications and disclosures made under the scheme are increasing.In the year ending March 2018, there were a total of 5,649 disclosures made under the scheme, representing a 66% increase on the previous year. In the year ending March 2018, applications under the “Right to Know” element of the scheme increased by 47%, and “Right to Ask” applications increased by 111%.We will continue to work with the National Police Chiefs’ Council and the College of Policing to ensure that the DVDS and the guidance underpinning it are being used consistently and effectively to prevent harm and to keep potential victims of domestic abuse and their families safe.

Domestic Abuse: Males

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that specialist support services are available to support men experiencing domestic violence and abuse.

Victoria Atkins: Domestic abuse is a devastating crime and the Government is committed to doing everything we can to tackle it. We absolutely recognise that domestic abuse affects men as well as women. We have also published a dedicated male victims position statement to recognise the needs of male victims and to clarify and strengthen our response.We know that victims’ individual needs must be at the centre of service provision, including through an understanding of their gender and sexual orientation, which is why we have provided specific funding just to male victims of domestic abuse and sexual violence, including:£500,000 to improve support to male victims of domestic abuse;Funding for the Men’s Advice Line which provides support and advice to male victims of domestic abuse;Funding to Galop which provides advice and support to LGBT populations affected by domestic abuse;Funding for a number of LGBT-focused projects£452,000 from the Ministry of Justice to 12 organisations in England and Wales to provide services for male victims of rape and sexual violence;MoJ has provided £194,000 funding for a national online service for men and £100,000 for the male rape telephone helpline pilot so that male victims of rape and sexual violence are able to access support and information through other channels. We have also committed to conducting a review of the National Statement of Expectations and its impact on the local commissioning of male support services, and to improving the gender breakdown of Crown Prosecution Service and police data to better understand the numbers of male victims of domestic abuse who engage with the criminal justice system.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of her Department's capacity to register EU nationals who are already in the UK by the end of December 2020, in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Brandon Lewis: We are fully committed to ensuring that our operational teams have the re-sources they need to run an efficient and effective migration system. In addition to the new technology and processes, we have over 1,500 UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) European Casework staff in post to process applications, along with 250 staff handling calls and emails, helping people with their individual cases.In the event of the UK leaving the UK without a withdrawal agreement, the EU Settlement Scheme will remain open until at least 31st December 2020 for EEA nationals and their family members resident in the UK at the date of exit. European temporary leave to remain will be granted to EEA and Swiss citizens newly arriving in the UK after exit to live, study and work here for a period longer than three months.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to increase communication with EU nationals on the EU settlement scheme.

Brandon Lewis: It is vital that the over three million EU citizens and their family members living in the UK understand how and when to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.When the scheme launched fully in March, the department delivered a £3.75m marketing campaign to raise awareness of the scheme. More than one million people have now been granted status and EU citizens and their families have until at least 31 December 2020 to apply.Advertising and local events are underway to support the cross government Get Ready campaign and further publicity will roll out over the lifetime of the Scheme. All available channels will be used to reach our audiences – such as direct marketing, radio, video-on-demand and outdoor advertising, presentations, email updates, toolkits and webinars to name a few – to direct EU citizens towards reliable sources of information on GOV.UK and the application itself.No-one will be left behind which is why we are also working in partnership with vulnerable group representatives, local authorities and other experts to make sure everyone knows what they need to do and has the right level of support.

Police: Training

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Prime Minister's statement of 24 July 2019, what estimate her Department has made of the cost of training new police officers to be established by 2022 in (a) Leicestershire and (b) the UK.

Kit Malthouse: The Government has committed to increasing the number of police officers by 20,000 over the next three years. We are committed to giving police the resources, tools and powers they need to tackle the scourge of crime.The cost of training new officers will vary over time and across forces. The provision of training for police officers and the associated costs are defined locally. It is for local PCCs and Chief Constables to make arrangements for training within their force.

Offensive Weapons Act 2019

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 19 June 2019 to Question 263876 on Offensive Weapons Act 2019, when the final impact assessment will be published.

Kit Malthouse: We intend to publish the final Impact Assessment to accompany the Offensive Weapons Act 2019 as soon as possible and once our overall assessment of the costs and impacts associated with the measures in the Act has been finalised.

Home Office: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what meetings her Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Brandon Lewis: It is the duty of any responsible Government to prepare for every eventuality including the scenario that we leave the EU without agreeing a deal.We are working closely with operational partners - including the police - on contingency planning so we can ensure the safety and security of our citizens in all scenarios.

Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government  is taking to complete the ratification of the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence; and what recent discussions the Government has had with devolved Administrations on the necessary legislative changes to complete the ratification.

Victoria Atkins: The Government signed the Istanbul Convention to signal the UK’s strong commitment to tackling violence against women and girls.The Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence (Ratification of Convention) Act 2017 requires Ministers to publish annual reports on their progress towards being able to ratify the Convention. The next progress report is due to be published by 1 November 2019. This will, like previous reports, cover measures taken by the devolved administrations.Following consultation with the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Department of Justice, the Domestic Abuse Bill includes measures extending the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the criminal courts in Scotland and Northern Ireland (as well as in England and Wales) to certain violent and sexual offences, and provides for a new domestic abuse offence in Northern Ireland. These legislative changes will support ratification of the Convention.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EU citizens have been granted settled status in the UK by constituency.

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of EU citizens in each constituency who have not yet applied for settled status and need to do so to remain in the UK.

Brandon Lewis: Official statistics – ‘EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics, June 2019’ – providing detailed information regarding operation of the scheme were pub-lished on 22 August 2019, including applications received by local authority. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/eu-settlement-scheme-quarterly-statistics-june-2019Information on applications concluded by nationality, age group and UK country are also included.The fourth monthly summary report EU Settlement Scheme statistics, July 2019 – on the scheme were published on 15 August 2019. These can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/eu-settlement-scheme-statistics-may-2019 and show that as of 31 July 2019, over one million (1,040,600) EU citizens and their families from across the UK have applied to the EU Settlement Scheme.

Post Office: Biometric Residence Permits

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department plans to pay Post Office Ltd to provide Biometric Residence Permit collections from 31 July 2019 to 31 July 2020.

Seema Kennedy: Information relating to the Post Office Biometic contract will be published in due course.

Cleveland Police: Brexit

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what meetings her Department has had with Cleveland Police on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Kit Malthouse: The Home Office has not met directly with Cleveland Police on this matter. However, it is the duty of any responsible Government to prepare for every eventuality including the scenario that we leave the EU without agreeing a deal.Home Office officials are working closely with the National Police Co-ordination Centre(NPoCC) and with the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) to determine the impact of EU Exit on policing and plan accordingly.

Home Office: Brexit

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what meetings her Department has had with Leeds City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Brandon Lewis: It is the duty of any responsible Government to prepare for every eventuality including the scenario that we leave the EU without agreeing a deal.We are working closely with operational partners - including the police - on contingency planning so we can ensure the safety and security of our citizens in all scenarios.

Asylum: Children

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to end the current system of family reunification for asylum-seeking children; and if she will make a statement.

Kit Malthouse: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to issue guidance on the European Temporary Leave to Remain immigration system for (a) prospective migrants to the UK and (b) employers.

Brandon Lewis: When the UK leaves the European Union on 31 October, free movement as it currently stands will end, if the UK leaves without a deal. The details of new immigration arrangements for EU citizens moving to the UK after a no deal Brexit were announced on 4 September (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-09-04/HCWS1817/).To remain in the UK after 2020, EU citizens moving to the UK after a no deal Brexit, and their close family members, will be able to apply for European Temporary Leave to Remain. Under this scheme EU citizens will be granted a period of 36 months’ leave to remain in the UK, which will provide them and their employers, with greater confidence and certainty during the transitional period before the new points-based immigration system is introduced from January 2021.The rights of EU citizens resident in the UK before Brexit are unchanged and will be protected by the status they can obtain under the EU Settlement Scheme, as more than one million of them have already done. They will have at least until 31 December 2020 to make an application under that scheme.Until the new points-based immigration system is introduced in 2021, EU citizens will be able to prove their right to take up employment, as now, by using their passport or national identity card. Alternatively, those with status under the EU Settlement Scheme or with European Temporary Leave to Remain may choose to use the Home Office on-line checking service to demonstrate their entitlement. When the new points-based immigration system is introduced from January 2021, employers will need to check that, in respect of any new recruitment, an EU citizen has a valid UK immigration status.

Human Trafficking: Victim Support Schemes

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2019 to Question 273830 on Human Trafficking: Victim Support Schemes, whether his Department plans to consult with (a) National Referral Mechanism support providers and (b) other stakeholders to ensure that his Department's proposed new needs-based system is consistent with legal obligations and sustainable in the longer-term.

Victoria Atkins: The Government is committed to stamping out modern slavery and providing victims with the support they need to rebuild their lives.We are always working to improve our understanding of the complex needs of victims of modern slavery and to improve the support available.We are continuing our work to embed a needs-based approach to support, and we have engaged with support providers and wider stakeholders in designing a recovery needs assessment. We will continue to seek partners’ feedback as we implement and refine this new approach, alongside other aspects of our reform programme.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many EU citizens in London have received (a) settled status and (b) pre-settled status.

Brandon Lewis: Published information on EU Settlement Scheme conclusions by outcome type and UK country can be found in the Home Office’s ‘EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics’, quarterly statistics tables, table EUSS_05, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/826751/eu-settlement-scheme-quarterly-statistics-tables-28-august-2018-to-30-june-2019.ods.Published information on EU Settlement Scheme applications by region and local authority can be found in the Home Office’s ‘EU Settlement Scheme quarterly statistics’, local authority statistics tables, table EUSS_LA, available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/826752/eu-settlement-scheme-local-authority-statistics-28-august-2018-to-30-june-2019.ods.The Home Office does not currently publish statistics on EU Settlement Scheme application outcomes by region.

Antisocial Behaviour: Lancashire

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to allocate additional funding to Lancashire constabulary to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Victoria Atkins: It is important that the police and local agencies have the powers they need to tackle local issues quickly and effectively. That is why we reformed the tools and powers available to tackle Anti-Social Behaviour through the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.In 2019/20 Lancashire Police are receiving £285.1 million of funding, an increase of £18.4 million, on 2018/19. Funding for 2020-21 for individual forces will be announced as part of the provisional police settlement later this year. Decisions about the allocation of police resources are for Chief Constables and democratically accountable Police and Crime Commissioners, who are best placed to meet the needs of their local community.

Metropolitan Police: Forensic Science

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of digital forensics capacity within the Metropolitan Police Service.

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of digital forensics capacity within the Metropolitan Police Service on the a) progress of investigations, and b) charge rate.

Kit Malthouse: The day-to-day management of digital forensic services is an operational matter for the police. The Home Office is funding the police-led Transforming Forensics Programme, which will establish a Forensic Capability Network (FCN) to support police forces to manage commercial, quality and scientific issues in forensics.

Asylum: Finance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department paid to Sodexo to provide the Aspen card service in each year for which data is available; and what estimate her Department has made of the future costs of that service.

Victoria Atkins: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Databases: EU Countries

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for national security of the end of data sharing with EU member states.

Brandon Lewis: Much of our national security cooperation with our European partners takes place outside EU structures and so is not dependent on our membership. We continue to work intensively with operational partners to ensure that we are ready for any eventuality.

Visas: Iraq

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to improve the visa application system in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Seema Kennedy: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Mr Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will detail the alternative entry requirements facing EU citizens arriving in the UK after 1 November 2019 following her announcement to end freedom of movement from the EU into the UK.

Brandon Lewis: When the UK leaves the European Union (EU) on 31 October, free movement as it currently stands will end, if the UK leaves without a deal. The details of new immigration arrangements for EU citizens moving to the UK after a no deal Brexit were announced on 4 September (https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-09-04/HCWS1817/).

Lancashire Constabulary

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has had discussions with Lancashire Constabulary on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Kit Malthouse: It is the duty of any responsible Governmnet to prepare for every eventuality including the scenario that we leave the EU without agreeing a deal.We are working closely with operational partners - including the police - on contigency planning so we can ensure the safety and security of our citizens in all scenarios.

Visas: Iraq

Jessica Morden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) spousal visas were issued and (b) individual family members were granted entry to the UK from Afghanistan to be reunited with a family member that served as an interpreter with the British Armed Forces (i) between 2012 and April 2019 and (ii) since April 2019.

Victoria Atkins: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Disclosure of Information: EU Countries

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the implications for national security should cross-border data sharing with the EU end as a result of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Brandon Lewis: Much of our national security cooperation with our European partners takes place outside the EU structures and so is not dependent on our membership. We continue to work intensively with operational partners to ensure that we are ready for any eventuality.

Asylum: Finance

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure people who are in receipt of Section 4 support are able to cover (a) travel fares which can only be purchased with cash and (b) other upfront travel costs in order to report at Home Office reporting centres.

Victoria Atkins: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Asylum: Finance

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure reporting frequencies are not excessively (a) burdensome and (b) expensive for people who live in places where the journey to a reporting centre is significant.

Seema Kennedy: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Community Speedwatch

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the level of resources allocated to community speed watch schemes; how many of those schemes have been set up in each police force area; what assessment he has made of the value for money of those schemes; and if he will make a statement.

Kit Malthouse: Decisions on the level of resources allocated and when to adopt these schemes are operational matters for individual Police and Crime Commisioners and Chief Constables in conjuction with local policing plans. They are best placed to understand how to meet the needs of local communuties.

Northern Ireland Office

Economic Situation: Northern Ireland

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the Northern Ireland economy of the UK leaving EU without a deal.

Julian Smith: Overall, the cumulative impact from a ‘no-deal’ scenario is expected to be more severe in Northern Ireland than in Great Britain, and to last for longer. In a no-deal scenario there is an expectation of disruption to closely interwoven supply chains and increasing costs that would affect the viability of many businesses across Northern Ireland. I have been working closely with colleagues across Government and engaging with the Northern Ireland Civil Service in our exit preparations. The Government will continue to uphold the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all circumstances; it will continue to maintain existing Common Travel Area arrangements for British and Irish citizens between Ireland and the United Kingdom; and it is committed to doing everything in its power to preserve an open border in Northern Ireland, under no circumstances will it put in place infrastructure, checks, or controls at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Northern Ireland Office: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Julian Smith: During the financial year 2018/2019, the Department spent £108,896.61 on ministerial travel. This was broken down into £15,643.94 on first class (business class) travel, and £93,252.67 on second class (economy class).

Parades Commission: Compensation

Sir Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether the compensation of £10,000 granted to the now Commission Secretary and Accounting Officer of the Northern Ireland Parades Commission was paid (a) in instalments and (b) tax-free.

Julian Smith: Given the need to comply with Data Protection legislation, the Northern Ireland Office is not able to comment on personnel matters.

Northern Ireland Office: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Julian Smith: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 09 September 2019.The correct answer should have been:

During the financial year 2017/2018, the Department spent £80,026.13 on ministerial travel. £3,011.04 £30,911.04 of this was first class (business class) travel, and £49,115.09 was for second class (economy class) travel.

Julian Smith: During the financial year 2017/2018, the Department spent £80,026.13 on ministerial travel. £3,011.04 £30,911.04 of this was first class (business class) travel, and £49,115.09 was for second class (economy class) travel.

Economic Situation: Northern Ireland

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, with reference to the data paper on Northern Ireland’s trade and investment under no deal, published by the Northern Ireland Department for the Economy, whether the figure of up to 40,000 jobs losses within key industries in the event that the UK leaves the EU without an agreement is the Government's current assessment; and what estimate his Department has made of the effect on Northern Ireland's (a) economy, (b) unemployment rate and (c) key industries of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Julian Smith: Overall, the cumulative impact from a ‘no-deal’ scenario is expected to be more severe in Northern Ireland than in Great Britain, and to last for longer. In a no-deal scenario there is an expectation of disruption to closely interwoven supply chains and increasing costs that would affect the viability of many businesses across Northern Ireland. I have been working closely with colleagues across Government and engaging with the Northern Ireland Civil Service in our exit preparations. The Government will continue to uphold the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all circumstances; it will continue to maintain existing Common Travel Area arrangements for British and Irish citizens between Ireland and the United Kingdom; and it is committed to doing everything in its power to preserve an open border in Northern Ireland, under no circumstances will it put in place infrastructure, checks, or controls at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Human Trafficking: Children

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what comparative assessment he has made of the effectiveness of guardianship for separated and trafficked children in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) other constituent parts of the UK to ensure the identification of trafficking among separated children.

Julian Smith: Children who are victims or potential victims of trafficking and those who are separated often face great anxiety and uncertainty about their futures, as well as needing to navigate a number of unfamiliar processes to reach durable solutions about their future. I am aware of the regional service launched by the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Board in early 2018 to support children in Northern Ireland who are victims of human trafficking and children who are separated from their families and their home countries. The Human Trafficking and Exploitation Act (NI) 2015, which was introduced to provide protection from traffickers and tackle modern slavery and exploitation, included a duty for the Health and Social Care Board to establish such a service and the service is delivered by Barnardo’s NI. The regional Independent Guardian Service is intended to strengthen the safeguarding arrangements to such children and specifically to assist, represent and support such children by listening to their views and making representation to, and liaising closely with all other agencies that fulfil key functions in the arrangements for their immediate and future care and protection. This issue is wholly devolved in Northern Ireland, and so it would not be appropriate to carry out an assessment or comparisons of the merits of the system.

Police Service of Northern Ireland

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps the Government is taking as part of its planning for the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal to increase the number of officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland in line with the recent request by its Chief Constable; and if he will make a statement.

Julian Smith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Blood: Contamination

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will allocate the additional funding announced by the Chancellor during Spending Round 2019 to compensate people affected by contaminated blood scandal.

Julian Smith: The contaminated blood scandal was a tragedy that has caused unimaginable pain and hurt to victims and their families. The Infected Blood Inquiry is UK-wide and the Inquiry terms of reference include consideration of financial assistance across all the nations of the UK. The Minister of State for Northern Ireland recently met with the Chair of Haemophilia NI to discuss the issue of support for victims in Northern Ireland. However, this is a devolved matter and the allocation of the NI budget is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Civil Service.

Blue Badge Scheme: Northern Ireland

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, if he will increase the health conditions criteria for qualification under the blue badge scheme.

Julian Smith: This is a devolved matter in Northern Ireland, and as such is the responsibility of the Department for Infrastructure. Information can be requested from the Permanent Secretary at DfI.

Sovereignty: Northern Ireland

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans he has to promote the financial benefits of the Union in Northern Ireland.

Julian Smith: This Government has made clear on many occasions that we will never be neutral in expressing our support for the Union. Our steadfast belief is that Northern Ireland’s future is best served within a stronger United Kingdom. As part of the Union, Northern Ireland benefits from being part of the world’s fifth largest economy that allows for the pooling of risks and the sharing of resources to fund public spending, such as on defence, education and our National Health Service.

Abortion: Northern Ireland

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions he has had with pro-life groups in Northern Ireland on the legislation to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland.

Julian Smith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Terrorism: Northern Ireland

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what progress has been made on the consultation to agree new institutions to deal with the legacy issues in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Julian Smith: This Government remains fully committed to finding a solution for dealing with the legacy of the Troubles which works for everyone - this means a way forward which meets the needs of victims and survivors, ensures that members of the Armed Forces and police are treated fairly and complies with the UK Government’s domestic and international legal obligations. Taking into account the responses received to the recent consultation, I will continue to work closely with the Northern Ireland parties, and ministerial colleagues - particularly in the Ministry of Defence and Office for Veterans’ Affairs, parliamentarians, the Irish Government and key stakeholders to find a way forward which is effective, legally robust and commands consensus.

Anniversaries: Northern Ireland

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions he has had with political parties on plans to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland in 2021.

Julian Smith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brexit: Northern Ireland

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what recent discussions he has had with the Irish Government on alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland when the UK leaves the EU.

Julian Smith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

International Cooperation: Republic of Ireland

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what discussions he has had with the Irish Government on enhanced east-west cooperation between the UK  and the Irish Republic when the UK leaves the EU.

Julian Smith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Treasury

Occupational Health

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the findings of the John Lewis Partnership Working Well report, published on 11 June 2019 on the benefits to public services of greater workplace health prevention and early intervention; and what steps he plans to take ensure that taxation incentivises early intervention from employers.

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential benefit to the public purse of workers receiving workplace medical treatment at work instead of after 28 consecutive days of absence.

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the taxation of employees with occupational health support on the take-up of those services by low paid workers.

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on (a) health prevention and (b) early intervention of the (a) conditions in relation to 28 day consecutive absence and (b)requirement that a health condition must be a direct result of work in the exemption for employer-funded recommended medical treatment under section 320C of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003.

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the compatibility of the conditions on tax reliefs for workplace health services with his Department's principles of tax simplification.

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect on number of additional workers that would be eligible for the exemption under section 320C of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 of removing the requirement for a 28 consecutive day absence.

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to the Exchequer of removing the requirement for a 28 consecutive day absence and £500 cap per tax year from the s320C ITEPA 2003 (EIM21774) exemption for employer-funded recommended medical treatment.

Jesse Norman: The Government recognises the valuable work of employers such as the John Lewis Partnership in providing for the health of their staff. Employers have a critical role to play in helping disabled people and people with long-term health conditions to remain in work. Keeping more people in work is good for them. But it is good for the economy too, and it reduces spending on out-of-work benefits, and potentially also demand on the NHS. For employers, investing in employee health and wellbeing can lead to increased workforce productivity and help retain key talent in an organisation. Employers normally incur expenditure on employee healthcare for a business purpose and can already deduct this in full when calculating their taxable profits under the longstanding general rules for business expenses. This means employers already receive full tax relief for these costs. The Government therefore does not believe that the existing tax system for business expenses incurred by employers provides a barrier to those wishing to support employees at work. The tax system also ensures employees do not pay income tax or National Insurance Contributions (NICs) on several employer-provided, health-related benefits and there is no corresponding Class 1A NICs liability for employers when there is an exemption for income tax. This includes recommended medical treatment of up to £500 intended to help employees return to work. This particular exemption is targeted at supporting individuals who are expected to reach or who have already reached four weeks of sickness absence. This is because evidence suggests there is an increased likelihood of employees moving on to benefits after an absence lasting four weeks or longer. The £500 cap is in line with the estimated annual cost of the medical treatment that would typically be recommended to help employees return to work. In July, the Government launched a consultation on measures to reduce ill health-related job loss. The broad focus of this consultation chimes with recommendations in the John Lewis report, including potential financial incentives to encourage more employers to access occupational health services, driving early and supportive employer action and spreading best practice. However, it also notes that there is limited evidence that making the tax treatment more generous is the most effective lever to incentivise more employers to start offering occupational health provision, if the initial cost is the main barrier for them. The Government will use the evidence and views gathered during this consultation to develop its proposals further, considering an approach which offers the best value for money and is affordable in the context of the next Spending Review.

NHS: Drugs

Tom Brake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2019 to Question 272107 on Department of Heath and Social Care: Brexit, when his Department plans to publish details of the new customs procedures.

Jesse Norman: In August 2018, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published Technical Notices on Customs and Excise, Business VAT and Tariff procedures that would apply under no deal arrangements and impact on businesses. Up to date guidance is available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/customs-procedures-if-the-uk-leaves-the-eu-without-a-deal, and this has been supported by a range of proactive stakeholder engagement. The final elements of guidance are in development and will be published in the next few weeks. HMRC continue to improve all of their guidance to ensure businesses have access to the advice they need to prepare for when the UK leaves the EU on 31st October.

Energy: Tax Allowances

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of reinstating tax relief for investors in community energy schemes.

Jesse Norman: The venture capital tax reliefs are intended to incentivise investment in higher risk companies who struggle to access finance. Energy generation was excluded from these schemes in 2016 in response to evidence of such investments being used for tax planning purposes. The Government has no current plans to reinstate eligibility for community energy schemes. The Government offers other forms of support to community energy projects, including through five new regional Local Energy Hubs, the new Smart Export Guarantee and the £10m Rural Community Energy Fund.

Public Houses: Finance

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what (a) financial and (b) other support her Department provides to pubs in high value property areas.

Jesse Norman: To provide support for pubs, the Government announced a freeze on beer duty at Budget 2018. The price of a typical pint of beer in 2019 will be 2p lower than it would have been had duty increased with inflation. Cuts and freezes to alcohol duty since 2013 have provided over £5.2 billion in support for the alcoholic drinks sector; revenues that would have otherwise gone to the Exchequer. Many pubs are also benefitting from the business rates retail discount announced at Budget 2018, which is cutting bills by one third for two years. It is available to properties with a rateable value below £51,000, and is worth an estimated £1 billion to businesses. Up to 75% of pubs in England could be eligible for the discount, subject to state aid limits and eligibility for other reliefs. Pubs are also benefitting from wider reforms and reductions to business rates. In total, since Budget 2016 the Government has announced measures which are saving businesses more than £13 billion over the next five years.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the level of fraudulent tax free childcare claims in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Rishi Sunak: HMRC’s compliance activity for Tax-Free Childcare – which involves targeted risk campaigns plus additional exercises looking at the particulars of randomly selected parents - suggests non-compliance rates continue to remain negligible. Whilst no formal estimates have been as yet been produced, all of HMRC’s compliance findings to date reveal no real evidence of deliberate fraud, but what mistakes have been detected relate instead to parent error.

Mobile Homes: Excise Duties

Emma Hardy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the effect on the motorhome industry of reclassifying motorhomes as cars for tax purposes.

Emma Hardy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of the increase in vehicle excise duty for motorhomes on the sustainability of the industry.

Emma Hardy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of reclassifying motor caravans (M1SP SA) as light goods vehicles for the purposes of vehicle excise duty.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was assessment he has made of the reclassification of motorhomes from private light goods vehicles to cars for the purpose of Vehicle Excise Duty on the motorhome industry.

Emma Hardy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the motorhome industry of the reclassification of the majority of motorhomes as cars for Vehicle Excise Duty.

Emma Hardy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of reclassifying motor caravan M1SP (special category) as light commercial vehicles for the purpose of Vehicle Excise Duty.

Jesse Norman: Since April 2017, the government has used a reformed Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) system that encourages the take-up of vehicles with low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to help meet our legally binding climate change targets. It is right that vehicles with high CO2 emissions pay higher first year VED than those with lower emissions. From September 2019, all multi-stage build vehicles, including motorhomes, must also record the CO2 emissions and fuel consumption on their type approval certificate. Apart from a small number of end-of-series derogations, all new registrations of multi-stage build vehicles must comply. Existing registrations are not impacted. To provide industry and motorists with time to prepare, the change in measuring CO2 emissions was announced at Autumn Budget 2017.

Overseas Loans: Registration

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for International Development on establishing an Overseas Loan Transparency Register to ensure that people using UK law in loan contracts are not able to make secret loans to governments in the Global South.

John Glen: The Chancellor of the Exchequer has not discussed proposals to establish an “Overseas Loan Transparency Register” with the Secretary of State for International Development. The UK Government is concerned about the sustainability and transparency of loans to low income developing countries. Given the complex international nature of sovereign debt, we continue to believe that internationally-agreed approaches are the most effective way to promote sovereign debt transparency. The UK is working through the G20 to monitor an industry-led initiative by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) to improve the transparency of lending of private creditors. The work of the IIF was acknowledged by finance ministers in June at the G20 finance ministers’ summit in Fukuoka, and the UK government will be closely monitoring its progress.

Tax Havens

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has received reports of UK involvement in the tax arrangements disclosed by the Mauritius Leaks in July 2019; and what steps he is taking to tackle the use of tax havens.

Jesse Norman: HMRC have reviewed the data disclosed by the Mauritius leaks and identified limited information relating to UK taxpayers. HMRC will investigate any allegations of wrongdoing identified. The UK Government is at the forefront of the international tax agenda and driving increased collaboration between tax authorities, including through the ground-breaking Common Reporting Standard that is shedding new light on offshore financial accounts around the world. In March 2019, HMRC refreshed their Offshore strategy, called No Safe Havens which sets out how they will continue to help those who try to get it right and tackle those who go overseas in an attempt to pay less than they should. This builds on HMRC’s success in tackling offshore non-compliance which, since 2010, has secured and protected £2.9 billion through offshore disclosure facilities from those who mistakenly believed they could hide money offshore. HMRC continue to work alongside UK and international partners to identify and tackle tax and economic crime in all its forms.

Tax Evasion

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Criminal Finances Act 2017 in relation to the offence of failure to prevent facilitation of tax evasion.

Jesse Norman: On 13 March 2019 HMRC published research on the impact of the commencement of the corporate criminal offences introduced in the Criminal Finances Act 2017. The research is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-of-corporate-behaviour-change-in-response-to-the-corporate-criminal-offences

Investment Income

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what reports he has received on the level of the practice of dividend arbitrage; and what steps he is taking to end dividend arbitrage.

John Glen: The Financial Conduct Authority published requirements for firms relating to dividend arbitrage in Market Watch 52, along with a summary of the findings of a review of firms engaged in the practice. These requirements are designed to ensure that firms maintain effective systems and controls to ensure they are not used to facilitate market abuse, or are used for a purpose connected with financial crime. The UK is taking a leading role internationally in preventing the use of these practices for illicit purposes and I am working closely with the Financial Conduct Authority to ensure that these practices are not used to facilitate market abuse.

Trusts: Tax Avoidance

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what reports he has received on the extent of the use of trusts as tax avoidance vehicles; and what steps he is taking to tackle that use of trusts.

Jesse Norman: While most trusts are used legitimately, some people use them in an attempt to avoid or evade tax. HMRC review and challenge these arrangements as part of their risk based compliance strategy. Of the avoidance schemes disclosed under the Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Scheme (DOTAS) regime since 2014, analysis at the point of disclosure indicates that around a third of them include trusts. However, the use of a trust may not be a material component of the scheme. The exact use of a trust will in many cases only become clear on further investigation. Recent reforms have increased the tax transparency of trusts. These include international information exchange under the Common Reporting Standard (which includes financial accounts relevant to trusts) and a UK requirement that all trusts with a UK tax liability must register with HMRC’s Trust Registration Service.

Revenue and Customs: Brexit

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the National Audit Report, The UK border: preparedness for EU exit update, published in February 2019, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of HMRC's preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Jesse Norman: EU Exit preparations are HMRC’s absolute top priority. The Government has ensured that HMRC are funded to successfully deliver their EU Exit commitments, and has provided HMRC with over £1 billion from 2017/18 to 2020/21. By 12 April HMRC had put in place legislation, guidance, systems, new border infrastructure and over 5,000 trained staff, to ensure that the UK would continue to have a functioning tax and customs system. They held hundreds of meetings with industry representatives and communicated with hundreds of thousands of businesses to encourage them to prepare, and have dynamically adjusted their plans to respond the state of business readiness. HMRC have thorough plans for an October exit, with or without a deal, including a communications campaign to encourage and assist businesses to get ready

Revenue and Customs: Brexit

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment HMRC has made of the potential safety risks for staff working near the border with the Irish Republic in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Jesse Norman: HMRC treat the safety and security of their employees with the utmost importance and although HMRC will not have people based at the border, there will be some who live and work nearby. HMRC are refreshing their impact assessments as regards people and estates security, and are providing bespoke support to those in Northern Ireland to maintain their safety and security. This includes specialist advisers reviewing Health and Safety risk assessments for operations in Northern Ireland.

Construction: VAT

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has HMRC has made of its capacity to process the increased volume of VAT pre-credibility checks resulting from reverse charge for building and construction services which comes into effect on 1 October 2019.

Jesse Norman: HMRC has made an assessment of the increased number of repayment claims that may result from the introduction of the VAT reverse charge for building and construction services. Any additional repayment claims will form part of their existing risking processes. They will continue to monitor volumes of repayment claims resulting from this VAT reverse charge.

Construction: Taxation

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to HMRC's Measuring Tax Gaps 2019 report, published on 20 June 2019, what estimate HMRC has made of the Construction Industry Scheme tax gap.

Jesse Norman: Non-compliance within the Construction Industry Scheme contributes to the overall tax gap estimates that HMRC publishes. However, HMRC do not make a disaggregated estimate of the tax gap related to the Construction Industry Scheme.

Revenue and Customs and UK Border Force: Staff

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether safety committees have been established to cover staff based at the inland pre-clearance Sites in (a) Hayes, and (b) Milton Keynes operated jointly by HMRC and UK Border Force.

Jesse Norman: HMRC are committed to providing working environments that meet all health and safety requirements. HMRC have the appropriate Health and Safety Committees operating, covering the activities at both Hayes and Milton Keynes. Local representatives from HMRC, UK Border Force and the commercial contractor are present on these committees.

Revenue and Customs: Equal Pay

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the 2016 HMRC Equal Pay Audit will be published.

Jesse Norman: In line with Government policy, HMRC’s Equal Pay Audit is produced every three years. The Equal Pay Audit 2016 was published in December 2018 on HMRC’s internal website.

Revenue and Customs: Equal Pay

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the 2016 HMRC Equal Pay Audit provides assurance that HMRC's pay system is free from bias in terms of the protected characteristics defined in the Equality Act 2010.

Jesse Norman: The purpose of the 2016 Equal Pay Audit has been to give assurance that HMRC’s pay system is free from bias in terms of the protected characteristics and that HMRC continue to comply with the Equality Act 2010 legislation. Transparency, reporting and monitoring are critical to tackling any inequality revealed through examining pay gaps. HMRC believe that their pay system does not unlawfully discriminate against their people, but they are looking at what is driving pay gaps, considering opportunities to change them and using this as a benchmark to improve.

Revenue and Customs: Equal Pay

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the 2019 HMRC Equal Pay Audit will be completed.

Jesse Norman: HMRC’s Equal Pay Audit is produced every three years in line with Government policy and the 2019 Audit is due to be completed in January 2020.

Revenue and Customs: Apprentices

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 50 of the HMRC Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19, how much was paid by HMRC to its apprenticeship training providers via its apprenticeship service account in each month since April 2018.

John McDonnell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to page 50 of HMRC's Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19, how much was paid in apprenticeship levy by HMRC in each month since April 2018.

Jesse Norman: During 2018-19, HMRC paid £8.7m as an employer by way of the Apprenticeship Levy. Table 1 below shows this amount, broken down by month. The English portion of the levy, along with government top ups is deposited into the HMRC Apprenticeship Digital Account. During the 2018-19 financial year, HMRC paid apprenticeship providers £3.3m via the Digital Account. Table 2 below shows this amount broken down by month. Table 1 – HMRC Apprenticeship Levy Payments 2018-19MonthPayment in £’sApril 2018695,687May 2018715,685June 2018711,049July 2018708,968August 2018709,916September 2018772,747October 2018714,711November 2018725,306December 2018722,400January 2019722,281February 2019726,552March 2019737,762Total8,663,064 Table 2 – HMRC payments from the digital account to apprenticeship providers 2018-19MonthPaid to apprenticeship providers in £’sApril 201892,726May 201870,844June 2018161,592July 201889,452August 2018132,839September 2018287,468October 2018260, 573November 2018575,602December 2018469,438January 2019291,594February 2019434,473March 2019482,244Total3,348,395

Child Care Vouchers

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment has been made of the effect of the closure of Childcare Vouchers to new entrants on working families; and if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of re-opening that scheme.

Rishi Sunak: Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) was rolled out throughout 2017 and 2018 to replace childcare vouchers. TFC is better targeted than childcare vouchers, as it broadens access to childcare to all families who meet the eligibility criteria, whether they are an employee or self-employed and regardless of who their employer is. It is also fairer, because support is paid per child rather than per parent, so lone parent households get the same support as those with more than one parent. The Government has no plans to re-open the childcare vouchers scheme in the future.

Taxation: Self-assessment

Alan Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support HMRC provides to assist people with dyslexia complete tax return forms.

Jesse Norman: HMRC recognise that some of their customers may need extra support. HMRC’s contact centre advisors are trained to identify customers who may need extra help above and beyond the help that can be provided by phone. Customers are passed to specialist teams and where appropriate, HMRC will meet customers face-to-face in their own home or somewhere convenient to them. Further information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/dealing-hmrc-additional-needs

Financial Conduct Authority: Conduct

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment has been made of the potential merits of an independent inquiry into the conduct of the FCA prior to the collapse of Lendy.

John Glen: The Government has made no such assessment at this time. The operationally independent Financial Conduct Authority has an ongoing investigation into the circumstances that led to the administration of Lendy, and it would be inappropriate for the Government to pre-empt its findings.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the cost is to the public purse of tax free childcare per hour.

Rishi Sunak: Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) provides support to parents of 20% of their childcare costs, up to a cap of £2000 per child per year. The official statistics publication ‘Tax-Free Childcare Statistics’ (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-free-childcare-statistics-june-2019) contains a monthly breakdown of Government costs. The Government does not collect data on the number of hours of childcare being subsidised by TFC. It is therefore not possible to calculate the cost to the Government of TFC per hour of childcare subsidised.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of children using tax free childcare use a private childcare setting.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of children using tax free childcare use a statutory childcare setting.

Rishi Sunak: HM Revenue & Customs do not collect information on whether childcare is provided in a private or statutory setting for the purposes of delivering Tax-Free Childcare.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the level at which the earnings threshold cap has been set for the eligibility for tax-free childcare.

Rishi Sunak: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given by my predecessor on 30 April 2019 under UIN’s 245642, 245643, 245644 and 246449.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many parents are eligible for tax free childcare in Wales.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many parents are eligible for tax free childcare in England.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many parents are eligible for tax free childcare in Scotland.

Rishi Sunak: The number of families eligible for Tax-free childcare who have qualifying childcare costs in 2019/20 in England, Scotland and Wales can be found in the table below. CountryNumber of Eligible Families with Qualifying Childcare (000’s)England1,120Scotland110Wales70

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what proportion of eligible parents take up tax free childcare.

Rishi Sunak: The latest Tax-Free Childcare Official Statistics show that 141,000 families used a Tax-Free Childcare account to pay a childcare provider in June 2019. This is around 11% of the estimated number of eligible families.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what forecast he has made of the number of parents that will be eligible for tax free childcare in each of the next five years.

Rishi Sunak: We estimate that there are 1.3 million families with qualifying childcare that are eligible for Tax-free Childcare in the UK in 2019/20. This estimate has been revised from the 1.5 provided previously following updates to the survey data and methodological improvements.   Current forecasts for the next five years can be seen in the table below.  2019/202020/212021/222022/232023/24Number of Eligible Families with Qualifying Childcare (Millions)1.31.31.31.21.2

Parents: Employment

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to encourage more working parents (a) in general and (b) who are women to get back into work.

Rishi Sunak: The government supports women and parents to return to work, including through: spending almost £6 billion on childcare support in 2019/20 – more than ever before, providing the right to request flexible working and a system of shared parental leave, investing in opportunities and support for people returning to work after time out for caring and having an ambition to increase female entrepreneurship by half by 2030. The female employment rate is at a record high of 72.1% and 1.9m more women are in work since 2010. The employment rate for parents is 83.2%, also a record high.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to increase the affordability of childcare for low income families.

Rishi Sunak: This Government is committed to supporting families across the income distribution with the cost of childcare and we will be spending almost £6 billion in 2019/20 on childcare support – more than ever before. Families on low incomes are able to access a range of childcare support including:15 hours of free childcare per week for disadvantaged two-year olds in England.15 hours of free childcare per week for all 3 and 4 year olds in England, as well as an additional 15 hours of free childcare a week for working parents of 3 and 4 year olds in England.Up to 85% of childcare costs under Universal Credit, an increase from the 70% of costs which were previously covered under Tax Credits.

Familes: Personal Income

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he has taken to support dual income families where both parents work full time hours.

Rishi Sunak: This Government is committed to supporting families with the cost of childcare and we will be spending almost £6 billion in 2019/20 on childcare support – more than ever before. Families where both parents work more than 16 hours per week at the National Living Wage and earn less than under £100,000 per year are eligible for a range of support including:20% of childcare costs for children under the age of 12, up to a cap of £2000 per child per year, from Tax-Free Childcare.30 hours of free childcare per week for 3 and 4 year olds in England.

Parents: New Businesses

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he has taken to encourage (a) working parents and (b) working mothers to start their own business.

Rishi Sunak: The Government is committed to supporting entrepreneurs and removing barriers for would-be entrepreneurs. To support this aim, the Government has extended the Start-up Loans Programme until 2021 which will provide up to 10,000 loans to potential entrepreneurs to help them start a business. The parental pay and leave system gives working parents the choice and flexibility they need to balance work with the demands of starting and growing a family. For mothers in particular, in response to the Alison Rose Review on female entrepreneurship, the Government has announced its ambition to increase the number of female entrepreneurs by half by 2030, equivalent to nearly 600,000 additional female entrepreneurs. To support this, we have launched the Investing in Women Code which has 18 signatories from the financial services sector who are committed to improving female entrepreneurs’ access to tools, resources and finance.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Tax-Free Childcare statistics, published March 2019, for what reasons 60 per cent of open accounts are not being used.

Rishi Sunak: Due to the way Tax-Free Childcare is linked to 30 hours free childcare, a large number of Tax-Free Childcare accounts for 3 and 4 years olds are opened but not used to pay a childcare provider. This happens because a child who has a 30 hours account opened, will automatically have a Tax-Free Childcare account opened as well, if their parents are eligible. The reason for this feature of the service is to ensure a smooth customer journey for families signing up for 30 hours free childcare, so that they have a Tax-Free Childcare account ready for use when their child is no longer eligible for 30 hours free childcare. Additionally, when a Tax-Free Childcare account is opened for a child, of any age, accounts will be opened for their siblings if their details are also entered during the application.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support for childcare is available to working parents who have no recourse to public funds.

Rishi Sunak: All three and four year olds in England are entitled to the 15 hour universal entitlement to free early education for 38 weeks of the year regardless of the immigration status of the child or their parents. Parents who have the right to live and work in the UK are eligible for an additional 15 hours a week of free childcare for three and four year old children. Parents who are from outside the EEA and have no recourse to public funds are not entitled to the additional hours of free childcare for three and four year old children. However, if they have a British partner, an EEA national partner or a non-EEA national who is not subject to immigration control, they can receive the additional free hours of childcare if it is that other partner who makes the application for 30 hours. Children of families with no recourse to public funds with a right to remain in the UK on grounds of private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and children of Zambrano carers have recently become eligible for the free early education entitlement for the most disadvantaged two year old children in England provided they come within the income threshold.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the lack of access in Northern Ireland to 30 hours funded childcare on the affordability of childcare in Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK.

Rishi Sunak: The provision of funded childcare hours for pre-school children is devolved and is therefore a matter for a restored Northern Ireland Executive. Parents in Northern Ireland are able to receive support with their childcare costs from UK government support including Universal Credit and Tax-Free Childcare.

Solar Power: VAT

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of increasing VAT on new solar-battery systems by 15 per cent in October 2019 on the rate of solar battery uptake.

Jesse Norman: Changes to the VAT rules for energy-saving materials are expected to have a negligible impact on the Exchequer and on the administrative burdens on businesses. Around 1,500 future installations of solar panels, energy-saving boilers and wind turbines are expected to be affected annually, plus some other smaller scale items. This represents less than 5 per cent of the value of all installations currently eligible for the reduced rated. The remaining 95% remains unaffected. For installations affected by the changes, the goods element of the installations will become standard rated with the labour element continuing to benefit from the reduced rate. A Tax Information and Impact Note was published by HMRC on GOV.UK on 10 July 2019.

Solar Power: VAT

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions his Department has had with the solar industry on the decision by HMRC to increase VAT for new solar-battery systems by 15 per cent in October 2019.

Jesse Norman: The Government consulted on the recent changes to the VAT rules for energy-saving materials in April. As part of that consultation HMRC and HMT held meetings with businesses and organisations representing the solar industry.

Solar Power: VAT

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for her policies of the statement by the Renewable Energy Association that the decision by HMRC to increase VAT on new solar-battery systems from five to 20 per cent in October 2019 could slow the uptake of solar-battery systems by years and contradicts the Government’s commitment to tackling climate change; and if she will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: I refer to the assessment provided in my answer to PQ284318. The Government is committed to greening the UK economy and designed the changes for energy-saving materials to retain as much of the VAT relief as possible for UK households, while complying with EU law. While the UK remains a member of the EU, the Government is obliged to make these changes. As all taxes are kept under review, it may be possible to amend these rules once the UK has left the EU.

Corporation Tax

John Lamont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has any plans to reduce corporation tax.

Jesse Norman: Since 2010 the Government has successively reduced the UK Corporation Tax rate to support businesses both large and small. Now at 19% the UK Corporation Tax is currently the lowest in the G20. In April 2020 the Government will reduce the UK Corporation tax rate further to 17%.

National Insurance Contributions: Scotland

John Lamont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to change the level of national insurance paid at the upper earnings limit and what assessment he has made of the potential of effect of that change on the (a) Scottish Government block grant and (b) tax differential between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

John Lamont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has plans to raise the higher rate threshold of income tax and what assessment he has made of the potential effect of a raise in that threshold on the (a) Scottish Government block grant and (b) tax differential between Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Jesse Norman: The Government is committed to keeping taxes low to support working people to keep more of what they earn and to encourage individuals to progress. This is why the Government met its commitment to raise the higher rate threshold to £50,000, one year early. This has ensured that nearly 1 million fewer people pay the higher rate of tax compared to 2015-16. Decisions on the Higher Rate Threshold and the National Insurance Contributions (NICs)s Upper Earnings Limit and Upper Profits Limit are taken by the Chancellor at fiscal events. The mechanism through which the changes to income tax policy affect the Scottish Government’s block grant are set out in the Scottish Government’s Fiscal Framework. When the UK Governments increases the Higher Rate Threshold, the Scottish Government receives an increase to their block grant commensurate to the Higher Rate Threshold increase. National Insurance Contributions are reserved to the UK government, and therefore any changes to NICs do not affect the Scottish Government’s block grant.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

John Lamont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has any plans to reduce stamp duty rates.

Jesse Norman: The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the usual tax policy making process. Tax changes, including changes to Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), are generally announced at the Autumn Budget, where decisions are taken in the round. SDLT is an important source of government revenue, raising several billion pounds each year to help pay the essential public services. Therefore, any changes to SDLT would have to be carefully considered given the potential effect on public finances. Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) was devolved to Scotland by the Scotland Act 2012 and subsequently replaced with the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax in April 2015.

Public Expenditure

John Lamont: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has any plans to review or amend the Barnett formula.

Rishi Sunak: The 2017 government manifesto committed to continue to use the Barnett formula. The Barnett formula is simple, mechanical and transparent, and has stood the test of time with successive governments committing to its retention.

Beer: Excise Duties

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make it his policy to reduce the level of beer duty in Budget 2019.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Government supports consumers, pubs and breweries. To this end, the Government has cut or frozen beer duty at six of the last seven Budgets. These actions have ensured the price of a pint of beer is 14p is lower than it otherwise would have been since ending the beer duty escalator in 2013. All taxes are kept under review and the impact of a change to beer duty is considered at each fiscal event, including its effect on pubs and the wider economy.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the revenue lost to the public purse as a result of fraudulent tax free childcare claims in each of the last three years; and if he will make a statement.

Rishi Sunak: HMRC’s compliance activity for Tax-Free Childcare – which involves targeted risk campaigns plus additional exercises looking at the particulars of randomly selected parents - suggests non-compliance rates, and thus revenue losses to the public purse, continue to remain negligible. Whilst no formal estimates have been as yet been produced of actual losses, all of HMRC’s compliance findings to date reveal no real evidence of deliberate fraud, but what mistakes have been detected relate instead to parent error.

VAT: Electronic Government

Steve Double: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support HMRC provides to people who are not digitally literate to help them submit their VAT returns online.

Jesse Norman: HMRC have dedicated helplines to assist customers who need help submitting their VAT return online. HMRC also have a service for customers who need additional help to get their tax right. Exceptionally, some customers are not required to submit VAT returns online if they genuinely cannot do so.

Solar Power: VAT

Peter Kyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if the Government will make an assessment of the potential merits of exempting solar panels from VAT.

Jesse Norman: There may be flexibility to amend VAT rules on solar panels in the future, but while the UK is a member of the EU, it is required to comply with EU VAT rules.

Charities: Taxation

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government has plans to undertake a comprehensive review of charity taxation and reliefs.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the financial wellbeing of charitable organisations of introducing a universal Gift Aid declaration database.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Government is committed to supporting the vital work that charities do for the UK, which is why it provided £5.3 billion worth of tax reliefs to the sector and its donors in 2018/19, including over £1.3bn of Gift Aid. No assessment has been made of the impact on charities regarding the proposal made in the report by the independent Charity Tax Commission published in July 2019 to introduce a universal Gift Aid declaration database. The Government keeps all tax reliefs under review. However there are no plans to undertake a formal comprehensive review of charity taxation and reliefs.

Buildings: Solar Power

Peter Kyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his policy is on making solarized buildings eligible for business rates relief.

Jesse Norman: The Government is continuing to support the take up of solar panels by maintaining the business rates exemption for solar power generating equipment of less than 50kW, between the time of its installation and the next business rates revaluation. Where energy generated is not for self-consumption, solar panels benefit from the tools of the trade exemption and are not rateable.

Wills: VAT

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on the economic wellbeing of charitable organisations of removing VAT from the cost of writing wills that include a charitable donation.

Mr Simon Clarke: The costs for writing wills that include a charitable donation are subject to the standard rate of VAT. Under the current EU VAT rules, it is not possible to zero rate or exempt these costs from VAT. Whilst the UK remains a member of the EU, it must comply with the rights and obligations that membership entails. This includes the application of EU VAT rules. The Government is clear that tax is a sovereign matter and that it will be open to us to change in the future or include in any negotiations with the EU. While there might be more flexibility in the future, removing VAT on the cost of writing wills would need to be measured carefully and balanced against wider policy, economic and fiscal considerations.

Manufacturing Industries: Capital Allowances

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many manufacturing firms have received help from the annual investment allowance in each year since that allowance was introduced; and what the total value of savings is accrued by those firms that have received such help.

Jesse Norman: By introducing the AIA, the Government has made tax simpler for the majority of UK businesses that invest in eligible plant and machinery below the AIA limit each year. The total value of capital allowances received by manufacturing firms making AIA claims in the period 2011-12 to 2016-17 inclusive is £11.2bn. Full information, including data for earlier years, is available in Table 11.10 of each year’s National Statistics Publication “Corporation Tax Statistics”, accessible online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/analyses-of-corporation-tax-receipts-and-liabilities The total number of manufacturing companies claiming under the AIA each year is as follows: 32,110 (2011-12); 34,154 (2012-13); 34,418 (2013-14); 36,060 (2014-15); 36,807 (2015-16); 36,756 (2016-17).

Houseboats: VAT

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to undertake a review of the charging of VAT on mooring fees for residents of houseboats.

Jesse Norman: Mooring fees on houseboats designed or adapted for use solely as a place of permanent habitation, which do not have the means of, and are not be capable of being readily adapted for self-propulsion, are VAT exempt.Under the current EU VAT rules, there is no scope to extend the remit of these VAT reliefs for houseboats. Whilst the UK remains a member of the EU, it must comply with the rights and obligations that membership entails. This includes the application of EU VAT rules.

Child Benefit

Peter Kyle: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what feedback he has received from families affected by the High Income Child Benefit Charge.

Jesse Norman: The Government introduced the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) from January 2013 to ensure that support is targeted at those who need it most. It applies to anyone with an individual income over £50,000, who claims Child Benefit or whose partner claims it, regardless of the make-up of their household.HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) continue to consider ways in which they can improve communications to raise awareness of HICBC. HMRC recently undertook external research and used the findings to make changes to their guidance and communications on HICBC. They also improved the Child Benefit claim form to make clearer what choices people have on HICBC when they claim the benefit.

Schools: Clothing

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of removing VAT from all items of school and PE clothing after the UK leaves the EU.

Jesse Norman: The Government currently applies a zero rate of VAT on clothing and footwear which is designed for children under the age of 14. This is the maximum relief allowed under EU law. While there may be more flexibility in the future, introducing a VAT relief for all school uniforms and PE clothing would come at a cost to the Exchequer, and that cost would have to be balanced by increased taxes elsewhere, or reductions in government spending.

Tax Avoidance

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of individuals who will declare bankruptcy because they cannot pay the 2019 Loan Charge.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HMRC has offered support to families in cases where the 2019 Loan Charge was a factor in people taking their own lives.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will (a) suspend the operation of the 2019 Loan Charge; and (b) commission an independent review of the operation of the 2019 Loan Charge.

Jesse Norman: The Government has recognised the need to support those affected by the disguised remuneration loan charge and has put extra resources in place. In particular, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have opened a disguised remuneration helpline so people affected by the loan charge can discuss their affairs with a specialist team. The team can also offer additional support where needed and direct people to organisations including Samaritans and Mind. The Government published a tax information and impact note (TIIN) for this policy, in common with all new tax legislation. This provided a clear explanation of the policy objective together with details of the effect on the Exchequer, the economy, individuals, businesses, civil society organisations, as well as any equality or other specific area of impact. HMRC work hard to help people manage their tax affairs. HMRC does not want to make anyone bankrupt and very few cases ever reach that stage. HMRC have made clear they will work with individuals to reach sustainable and manageable payment plans wherever possible. Anybody who is worried about being able to pay what they owe should get in touch with HMRC. As the Prime Minister has announced, the Government will undertake a thorough review of the loan charge and will set out further details shortly.

Taxation: Electronic Government

Drew Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for businesses seeking support through Making Tax Digital's telephone lines.

Drew Hendry: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate has been made of the revenue lost to the public purse due to businesses inability to navigate the new Making Tax Digital system.

Jesse Norman: Performance on the VAT Helpline met the 5-minute average speed of answer target for most of June, July and August, with a slightly longer wait on a few peak dates and at the start and end of July. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have trained and deployed additional resource and increased their digital support offering to businesses and agents. More than one million VAT traders have now joined the MTD service and more than one million returns have been received and the VAT paid. Businesses that are unable to meet the requirements of MTD because they are digitally excluded can claim exemption from the service and continue to file their VAT returns in the way they did prior to MTD, so there is no revenue lost as a result.

Iron and Steel: Government Assistance

Ruth Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support the Government plans to allocate to the UK steel industry in the event of the UK leaving the EU.

Rishi Sunak: The government is already taking wide-ranging action to support the UK steel industry, including compensation for energy costs, supporting innovation and clean steel production, and working with the industry to introduce steel procurement guidance. The government is monitoring businesses and sectors which may be exposed to short-term difficulties as a result of EU Exit. We are considering how best to support businesses across the country in the run up to or immediately after EU Exit.

Treasury: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Mr Simon Clarke: The information requested is not available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Treasury: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Mr Simon Clarke: This question on ministerial travel can only be obtainable at disproportionate cost. However, the Government publishes data on ministerial overseas travel on a quarterly basis in arrears on GOV.UK. Information on costs on overseas travel from July to September 2019 is expected to be published in December 2019. Ministers must ensure that they always make efficient and cost-effective travel arrangements, and normal practice is for Ministers to travel by standard class.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many hours of childcare recipients of tax free childcare apply for by the proportion of applicants that apply for those hours.

Rishi Sunak: This information is not available since hours of childcare used is not collected as part of the Tax-free Childcare application process.

Lone Parents: Social Security Benefits

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support is in place for single working parents.

Rishi Sunak: The Government is committed to supporting working families with the cost of living. We are committed to rolling out Universal Credit (UC), which is designed to make work pay. Working parents on UC are benefitting from the Budget 2018 work allowance increase, meaning they can keep up to an extra £635 of their income each year. The Government is spending almost £6 billion in 2019-20 on childcare support – more than ever before. This includes free childcare hours in England, support under tax credits and Universal Credit, and Tax Free Childcare. Working parents will also be benefitting from the Income Tax Personal Allowance increase to £12,500, and the National Living Wage increase to £8.21.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Tax-Free Childcare statistics, published March 2019, for what reasons the proportion of families in Northern Ireland using tax-free childcare remained unchanged between 2017-18 and 2018-19.

Rishi Sunak: The proportion of used TFC accounts which are in Northern Ireland remained unchanged between 2017/18 and 2018/19 as the increase in the number of used accounts in Northern Ireland was proportional to the increase in the number of used accounts across the United Kingdom. As shown in Table 5 of the most recent Tax-Free Childcare (TFC) Statistics release (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/tax-free-childcare-statistics-june-2019) the number of used TFC accounts in Northern Ireland increased by 1,700 between 2017/18 and 2018/19.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support is available to parents of a child over the age of 11 to help with their childcare costs, given that this is the upper limit for Tax-Free Childcare, and where they are no longer able to access Childcare Vouchers.

Rishi Sunak: This Government is committed to supporting families and we will be spending almost £6 billion in 2019/20 on childcare support – more than ever before. There is a range of financial support with the cost of childcare available to parents with children over the age of 11, including:Support with 20% of childcare costs for disabled children up to the age of 16 under Tax-Free Childcare.Support of up to 85% of childcare costs under Universal Credit, and up to 70% of costs under Tax Credits, for children up to the age of 16 and 15 respectively.Support of up to 85% of childcare costs for children under 15 whose parents are full time Higher Education students under the Childcare Grant in England.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer on 3 September 2018 to Question 133821, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland executive on developing a 30 hours free childcare policy in Northern Ireland.

Rishi Sunak: Early education is a devolved matter for a restored Northern Ireland Executive. HMT ministers and officials have had no recent discussions with the Northern Ireland Executive on developing a new childcare offer in Northern Ireland. HMT continues to be willing to provide advice to the Northern Ireland parties and the Northern Ireland Civil Service based on our experience of developing and administering childcare policies in England.

Beer: Excise Duties

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to bring UK beer duty in line with other EU countries.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Government supports consumers, pubs and breweries. To this end, the Government has frozen or cut beer duty at six of the last seven Budgets. This has meant a pint of beer is 14p lower than it otherwise would have been since 2013. However, beer duty raises vital revenue to fund public services, and in order to protect the public finances, an RPI increase in duty rates is assumed in the public finances for all alcoholic drinks at Budget 2019. All taxes are kept under review and the impact of a change to beer duty is considered at each fiscal event, including its effect on pubs and the wider economy.

Landfill Tax

Alex Sobel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much landfill tax was collected in each year since 2010.

Mr Simon Clarke: Information on the amount of landfill tax collected is routinely published online by HM Revenue & Customs. This includes information about the amount of revenue collected since 2010. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/landfill-tax-bulletin Total cash receipts for landfill tax, as published in Table 1 on the gov.uk website, are as follows: Financial Year£million2010/111,0652011/121,0902012/131,0922013/141,1892014/151,1442015/169192016/178742017/187572018/19 p686 Calendar Year£million20101,04620111,11420121,11220131,10820141,1742015987201692220177422018707  p = Provisional. Unusually high or low figures may be changed on receipt of amendments to returns data.

Motor Vehicles: Insurance

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent discussions he has had with the motor insurance industry on the cost of insurance for young people.

John Glen: Treasury ministers and officials are in close contact with the insurance industry, and engage with the industry on a number of issues including pricing. Insurers make decisions about the terms on which they will offer cover following an assessment of the relevant risks. This is usually informed by the insurer’s claims experience and other industry-wide statistics. It is important that everyone has access to good insurance at the right price. The Government is determined that insurers treat customers fairly. The FCA sets the standards required of insurance firms in relation to their business to help ensure customers are treated in this manner.

Electronic Publishing: VAT

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment her has made of the potential merits of introducing a zero-rate of VAT for digital publications.

Jesse Norman: The Government keeps all taxes under review, including VAT. Any amendments to the VAT regime as it applies to physical publications and e-publications must be carefully assessed against policy, economic and fiscal considerations. Any representations on this issue will be considered as part of the fiscal events process.

Insurance: EU Countries

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on insurance payments from EU insurers to UK policyholders of the UK leaving the EU without  a deal.

John Glen: Government has legislated to ensure that all UK insurance policies with EU insurance companies can continue to be serviced by those EU companies after Brexit. We have introduced legislation for a Temporary Permissions Regime for EEA firms currently passporting into the UK to continue operations in the UK for a time-limited period while they apply for full UK authorisation. Government has also legislated for a Financial Services Contracts Regime, allowing for the orderly wind down of the UK regulated activities of remaining firms who do not enter the TPR, those whose applications for full UK authorisation are not successful, and those that do not apply for it. This action has largely mitigated the potential impacts on policyholders. This is reflected in the Bank of England’s Financial Stability Report, which describes a ‘low risk’ of disruption.

Inflation: Brexit

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the potential effect on inflation of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

John Glen: Short-term forecasting is undertaken by the Office for Budget Responsibility in line with its statutory duty. In line with its remit, the OBR’s forecasts include the economic and fiscal impact of government policy on EU exit where the effects can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The OBR has said that it will adjust its Brexit assumptions when more detail is available on the future trade and migration relationship between the UK and EU.

Unemployment

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on levels of unemployment of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

John Glen: Short-term forecasting is undertaken by the Office for Budget Responsibility in line with its statutory duty. In line with its remit, the OBR’s forecasts include the economic and fiscal impact of government policy on EU exit where the effects can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The OBR has said that it will adjust its Brexit assumptions when more detail is available on the future trade and migration relationship between the UK and EU.

Brexit

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate the Government has made of the cost of maintaining the frictionless border between Ireland and Northern Ireland after the UK leaves the EU (a) with and (b) without a deal; what meetings he has held in the last six months on the (i) hardware and (ii) software infrastructure required to maintain the frictionless border; and what estimate his Department has made of the (A) type and (B) quantities of equipment required to maintain the frictionless border.

Jesse Norman: The Government remains steadfast in its commitment to do everything in its power to preserve an open border in Northern Ireland. One of the many dividends of peace in Northern Ireland and the vast reduction of the security threat is the absence of a visible border. Under no circumstances will the Government put in place infrastructure, checks, or controls at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland. As the Prime Minister recently wrote in his letter to Donald Tusk, we must also respect the aim to find flexible and creative solutions to the unique circumstances on the island of Ireland. That means that a range of alternative methods of managing any customs and regulatory differences continue to be developed, including through discussions with officials and stakeholders. In March the Government set out the unilateral approach to checks, processes and tariffs in Northern Ireland it will take in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal. This avoids the need for checks at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Brexit

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what effect the process of the UK leaving the EU had on (a) GDP growth, (b) inflation and (c) foreign direct investment between 23 June 2016 and 23 July 2019.

John Glen: The fundamentals of our economy are strong: wages are growing, employment is at a record high and the unemployment rate is at a historic low. The economy has grown every year since 2010 and the IMF forecast that it will grow faster than Germany, Italy and Japan this year, and as fast as France. It is vital that we bring certainty and that's why we must leave on 31 October under any circumstances.

Brexit

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative forecast the Government has made of (a) GDP, (b) inflation, (c) foreign direct investment and (d) the UK's balance of trade for the next five years in scenarios in which (i) the UK does not leave the EU, (ii) the UK leaves the EU without deal and (iii) the UK leaves the EU with a deal.

John Glen: HM Treasury does not produce economic forecasts. The independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is responsible for producing forecasts for the UK economy and public finances. In line with its remit, the OBR’s forecasts include the economic and fiscal impact of government policy on EU exit where the effects can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The OBR has said that it will adjust its Brexit assumptions when more detail is available on the future trade and migration relationship between the UK and EU.

Treasury: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings his Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Rishi Sunak: The Government has had extensive engagement with all local authorities, including Bristol City Council, as they continue to prepare for leaving the European Union on 31st October, with or without a deal. We continue to ensure that councils have the necessary information to prepare effectively, and continue to provide opportunities for specific local issues to be raised and addressed. During December-March 2018/19, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government hosted eleven thematic engagement events for all councils in partnership with ten other government departments that were attended by 650 local government officers representing more than 270 councils. The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government also chairs a monthly meeting of local authority leaders with Ministers from across Government attending as required. Since August, a monthly interactive conference with local authority chief executives and Brexit Lead Officers has been hosted by the Secretary of State answering questions submitted directly to him from the sector. The Government’s recent expectation that all local authorities designate a Brexit Lead Officer has further enhanced two-way communication between the different tiers of government as the country prepares to exit the European Union. Across 2018/19 and 2019/20, MHCLG has allocated £79m to help local areas to prepare for Brexit. Of this funding, Bristol City Council has directly received £314,952 of capacity funding to help it to prepare and prevent disruption to the services that its residents rely upon.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Alberto Costa: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the Government plans to abolish stamp duty.

Jesse Norman: The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the usual tax policy making process. Tax changes, including changes to Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT), are generally announced at the Autumn Budget, where decisions are taken in the round. SDLT is an important source of government revenue, raising several billion pounds each year to help pay for essential public services. Therefore, any changes to SDLT would have to be carefully considered given the potential effect on public finances.

Employment: Taxation

Martyn Day: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate his Department has made of the number of contractors who will have to cease economic activities after the roll-out of IR35.

Martyn Day: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many contractors will be affected by the roll out of IR35 in Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency.

Martyn Day: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will meet with the hon. Member for Linlithgow and East Falkirk on the effect of the IR35 tax reforms on the personal finances of the flexible workforce living in Linlithgow and East Falkirk constituency.

Martyn Day: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to change its policy on the IR35 tax on providers of personal services.

Jesse Norman: The off-payroll working rules (sometimes known as IR35) have been in place since 2000. They ensure that individuals working like employees pay broadly the same amount of tax and NICs, regardless of the structure they work through. They do not affect the self-employed. In 2017 the Government reformed the way the rules operate in the public sector to address widespread non-compliance. This shifted responsibility for determining whether the rules apply from contractors to the bodies that engage them. Evidence shows that compliance is improving without reducing the flexibility of the labour market. Budget 2018 announced that the reform would be extended to all sectors, but not until April 2020 in order to provide more time for businesses to prepare. Small businesses have been excluded from the scope of the reform. The change will improve compliance with the existing rules. Those who are compliant will feel little impact. The Government has consulted extensively on the reform. HMRC have published guidance on how businesses can prepare ahead of April 2020, and is rolling out an education and support programme to help organisations make the right decisions. Information on the number of people within scope of the off-payroll working rules is not held at constituency or regional level.

Energy: VAT

Helen Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) accessibility and (b) effect on people of VAT Notice 708/6.

Jesse Norman: VAT Notice 708/6, which provides guidance on the VAT rules for energy-saving materials, is publicly available on GOV.UK. HMRC receive feedback from their customers on the content of their VAT notices and seek to incorporate this as far as possible to improve readability.

Housing: Energy

Helen Hayes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to provide financial incentives to encourage the retrofitting of existing homes and improve energy efficiency.

Mr Simon Clarke: Support for energy efficiency is available now through the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme, which requires energy companies to deliver heating and energy efficiency measures. This improves the ability of low income, fuel poor and vulnerable households to heat their homes.In 2017 Government committed to extending support for home energy efficiency to 2028 at least at the current level of ECO funding. This will drive more than £6 billion of investment to improve home energy efficiency over the next decade. Supplier obligations such as ECO have driven the installation of 2.5 million energy efficiency measures in around 2 million homes since 2013.

Mineworkers' Pension Scheme

Nick Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the expenditure of Government receipts from the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme surpluses disaggregated by area of expenditure in (a) 2015, (b) 2016, (c) 2017 and (d) 2018.

Rishi Sunak: Receipts from the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme come into the Consolidated Fund and are then spent on the provision of public services. We therefore cannot track specific receipts to expenditure.

Employment: Taxation

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to ensure those affected by IR35 changes and who pay national insurance contributions will receive holiday and sick pay and other benefits associated with employment.

Jesse Norman: At present there is no direct link between employment status for rights and employment status for tax. Those who wish to challenge their employment status for rights can take their case to an employment tribunal, regardless of their tax status. In order to modernise and enhance the enforcement of the employment rights for workers, the government is currently consulting on the proposal to introduce a new single enforcement body for employment rights. The government is also consulting on strengthening enforcement and extending entitlement to statutory sick pay.

Elysian Fuels

Laura Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that constituents in Crewe and Nantwich constituency that were mis-sold investments in Elysian Fuels by James Hay will be compensated.

John Glen: Consumers with complaints of this kind may be able to refer their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). The FOS is an independent, non-governmental body, established to provide for the proportionate, prompt and informal resolution of consumer complaints against financial services firms. Whether or not an individual complaint can be taken to the FOS will ultimately depend on the individual details. The eligibility of a complaint would be a matter for the FOS to consider.

Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of a two per cent increase on alcohol duty on (a) the amount of additional revenue that would be raised for the public purse and (b) reducing alcohol-related harm.

Mr Simon Clarke: HMRC’s tax ready reckoner publication outlines the impact of illustrative tax changes. A one percent increase to beer and cider duties is estimated to raise around £30m per year. A two percent increase will have around double the impact. No assessment has been made of the alcohol-related harm of such a policy.

Beer and Wines: Excise Duties

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the effect of the decision at Budget 2018 to freeze beer and wine duty on (a) total revenue raised, (b) levels of alcohol consumption and (c) alcohol-related deaths.

Mr Simon Clarke: The financial impact of policy decisions can be found in the policy costings document published alongside each budget. Wine duty was not frozen at Budget 2018, however the impact of freezing the other alcohol duties and introducing a new band for high strength cider is estimated to cost the exchequer around £175m per year. Internal modelling indicates that duty freezes raise alcohol consumption, in comparison to uprating rates alongside inflation. No internal assessment has been of the impacts of this on alcohol-related deaths.

Devolution: Finance

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he plans to publish the next Statement of Funding Policy on funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and Northern Ireland Assembly.

Rishi Sunak: The Statement of Funding Policy is typically updated at each Spending Review, so the eighth edition is due to be published in 2020. At Spending Round 2019, HM Treasury published a Statement of Funding Policy addendum to reflect the creation of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the reclassification of Network Rail spending from AME to DEL since Spending Review 2015.

Treasury: Brexit

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what meetings his Department has had with HMRC George Stephenson House in Thornaby on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Jesse Norman: HM Treasury and HMRC are working closely to prepare for the possibility that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement in order to keep goods moving and avoid delays at the border. Regarding specific meetings, it has been the practice of successive governments not to provide details of internal meetings.

Employment: Taxation

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the cost to UK business of the roll-out of the off-payroll rules to the private sector.

Jesse Norman: The off-payroll working rules were introduced in 2000 and require that individuals who work like employees, but through their own company, pay similar taxes to employees. To increase compliance with the rules, from April 2020 responsibility for assessing the employment status of individuals will shift to engagers, who are better equipped to make determinations. Outside the public sector, the reform will not apply to the smallest 1.5 million organisations, minimising their administrative costs. On 11 July 2019 HMRC published a Tax Information and Impact Note setting out the costs to business of the reform. This can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020/rules-for-off-payroll-working-from-april-2020.

Tax Avoidance

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact on the mental health of the people affected by the 2019 Loan Charge.

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what support HMRC is offering to the families of people who have died by suicide while facing the 2019 Loan Charge.

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will (a) suspend and (b) undertake a review of the 2019 Loan Charge.

Jesse Norman: Our sympathies are with the family and friends of anyone who has taken their own life. The Government has recognised the need to support those affected by the disguised remuneration loan charge and has put extra resources in place. In particular, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have opened a disguised remuneration helpline so people affected by the loan charge can discuss their affairs with a specialist team. The team can also offer additional support where needed and direct people to organisations including Samaritans and Mind. The Government published a tax information and impact note (TIIN) for this policy, in common with all new tax legislation. This provided a clear explanation of the policy objective together with details of the effect on the Exchequer, the economy, individuals, businesses, civil society organisations, as well as any equality or other specific area of impact. The Prime Minister on 4 September 2019 announced that the Government will undertake a thorough review of the loan charge, and the Government will set out further details shortly.

Local Housing Allowance

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will reinstate local housing allowance rates to the 30th percentile.

Rishi Sunak: The Government took the difficult decision to freeze LHA rates for 4 years from 2016-17 as part of efforts to bring welfare spending under control. The Government recognises that the impact of the freeze will differ across the country, and has recycled 50% of the savings from the LHA freeze to increase LHA rates in areas where rental growth has been strongest. In addition, as part of the 2019 Spending Round, the Chancellor announced an additional £40m in funding for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) in 2020-21 to help Local Authorities protect the most vulnerable claimants.

Money Laundering: British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to (a) tackle Money Laundering and (b) promote ethical financing in the Crown Dependencies and the UK’s Overseas Territories.

John Glen: The UK’s Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories are self-governing jurisdictions with their own democratically-elected governments responsible for most areas of their domestic policy, including fiscal matters. They co-operate with the UK in matters relating to taxation, fighting financial crime and countering terrorist finance. The Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories have committed to meeting the global standards for anti-money laundering and counter terrorist financing set by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). They are evaluated by the FATF in their own rights as self-governing jurisdictions. The Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories with financial centres share beneficial ownership information with the UK’s law enforcement agencies and are committed to global tax transparency standards such as the OECD Common Reporting Standard, an agreement to automatically exchange financial account information with other jurisdictions.

Money Laundering: British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential risk of the misuse of financial investment treaties to launder money in the Crown Dependencies and the UK’s Overseas Territories.

John Glen: The government assesses a range of money laundering and terrorist financing risks to the UK through the joint Treasury and Home Office National Risk Assessment (NRA). This includes considering risks in other jurisdictions that may facilitate money laundering or terrorist financing activity in the UK. The last NRA was published in October 2017 and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-risk-assessment-of-money-laundering-and-terrorist-financing-2017. The next NRA will be published by July 2020.

Brexit

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs has received advice from the Cabinet Office to prepare for the UK leaving the EU on 17 October 2019.

Jesse Norman: HM Revenue and Customs have not received advice from the Cabinet Office to prepare for the UK leaving the EU on 17 October.

Beer: Excise Duties

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to reduce beer duty; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Simon Clarke: The Government supports consumers, pubs and breweries. To this end, the Government has cut or frozen beer duty at six of the last seven Budgets. These actions have ensured the price of a pint of beer is 14p lower than it otherwise would have been since ending the beer duty escalator in 2013. All taxes are kept under review and the impact of a change to beer duty is considered at each fiscal event, including its effect on pubs and the wider economy.

Customs Declaration Services Programme

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer,  when he expects all businesses to have migrated to the Customs Declaration Service model.

Jesse Norman: CDS is a live service and some traders are using it to make declarations. The final elements of IT functionality will be delivered in the late autumn and further trader migration will take place over the course of a year, completing late 2020. HMRC are dual running the CHIEF system alongside CDS until all trader migration is completed.

Roadchef: Employee Benefit Trusts

Neil Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the dispute between HMRC and the Roadchef Employee Benefit Trust, whether Ministers of his Department were briefed before the House adjourned on 19 December 2017 that a valid tax repayment application was made by the former Chief Executive of the Roadchef Employee Benefit Trust in 2005; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: The administration of the tax system is a matter for HM Revenue and Customs. It would not be appropriate for Treasury Ministers to become involved in the administration of the tax system in specific cases.

Roadchef: Employee Benefit Trusts

Neil Gray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether independent mediation has been offered as a means to resolve the dispute between HMRC and the Roadchef Employee Benefits Trust.

Jesse Norman: The administration of the tax system is a matter for HM Revenue and Customs. It would not be appropriate for Treasury Ministers to become involved in the administration of the tax system in specific cases.

Pensions: Chronic Illnesses

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of people affected by terminal illness who are unable to claim their personal pensions early.

John Glen: The government does not hold this data. Subject to scheme rules, individuals may be able to make early withdrawals from their personal pension in the event that they are expected to live less than a year. These withdrawals can be made free of tax provided certain conditions are met.

Owner Occupation

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to help people who are ready to move up the housing ladder from their first property.

Jesse Norman: At Autumn Statement 2014 the government reformed SDLT on residential properties, cutting the tax for 98% of buyers who pay it, unless they are purchasing additional property. These changes benefit those who are moving up the housing ladder. The Government has already committed significant financial support for housing, with at least £44bn over a five-year period announced at Autumn Budget 2017, supporting its ambition to increase supply to 300,000 homes per annum on average by the mid-2020s to improve affordability, and to increase home ownership.

Small Businesses: Tax Allowances

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to introduce tax relief to small businesses to encourage those businesses to pay the living wage.

Jesse Norman: The Government is responsible for setting legal minimum wage floors which protect vulnerable low paid workers. We are proud to have introduced The National Living Wage, which increased again in April to £8.21. We commend employers who pay more when they can afford to do so. The Government keeps the tax system under review, and since 2010 has taken a range of actions to support small businesses. The corporation tax rate has been lowered from 19%, businesses have been entitled to the Employment Allowance, 100% Small Business Rate Relief has been made permanent and the Government has doubled the rateable value threshold for 100% relief, meaning more than 675,000 of the smallest businesses do not pay business rates at all.

Stamp Duty Land Tax: Repayments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether a refund for higher stamp duty after the sale of a principle home will be granted in the event that the deadline for reclaiming stamp duty has passed due to technical issues at HMRC.

Jesse Norman: Where an individual meets the conditions for requesting a refund of the higher rates of Stamp Duty Land Tax, following the sale of their previous main residence, they must do so within a prescribed time limit. If an individual’s refund is delayed by an HMRC technical issue, the individual would need to include information and evidence about that issue so that HMRC can consider those circumstances.

Treasury: Billing

Marion Fellows: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount of money received at post office branches for the payment of bills to HM Treasury in each year from 2004 to 2014; and how many payments there were in each of those years.

Jesse Norman: In line with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) retention policy, figures are only held from 2009:  Year Volume Value2009-2010 3,488,899 £2,954,071,1692010-2011 3,043,659 £2,471,069,8052011-2012 2,383,479 £2,424,727,4532012-2013 2,363,532 £2,274,329,9082013-2014 2,345,735 £2,094,782,1722014-2015 2,220,883 £1,681,412,410

Treasury: Billing

Marion Fellows: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reasons his Department did not adopt Santander's new electronic bill payment service for post offices.

Jesse Norman: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) fully investigated all alternative bill payment options including the replacement product offered by Santander at the Post Office, and found in that case that it was not technically or financially viable. The new system using bar-coded bills is not compatible with HMRC’s unique customer reference numbers for their various tax regimes. These reference numbers are essential in order to manage HMRC’s millions of customers and ensure payments are credited to customers’ records correctly and as quickly as possible.

Roadchef: Employee Benefit Trusts

Ian Austin: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will ask the Chief Executive of HMRC to hold discussions with the Chief Executive of the Roadchef Employee Benefits Trust on a resolution to the current dispute with that organisation.

Jesse Norman: The administration of the tax system is a matter for HM Revenue and Customs. It would not be appropriate for Treasury Ministers to become involved in the administration of the tax system in specific cases.

Dover Port: Large Goods Vehicles

Karl Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the time it will take to process road freight traffic entering the country at the Port of Dover in the event of the UK leaving the EU on 31 October without a deal.

Jesse Norman: The Government recognises the importance of trade flow through the UK’s key ports to the country’s economy, and is committed to ensuring that trade is as frictionless as possible through the Port of Dover. In the eventuality of a no deal scenario, the Government’s Day 1 model for Roll on Roll off ports, such as Dover, aims to move customs formalities away from the border, easing pressure at the ports and helping to avoid delays.

Tax Avoidance

Paul Girvan: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department's definition of fully disclosed information is in the letter from the Financial Secretary to the Treasury entitled Disguised Remuneration Loan Charge, dated 18th July 2019.

Jesse Norman: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will not apply the loan charge to a tax year where an enquiry was closed on the basis of fully disclosed information. This applies where an individual has provided details about their use of a disguised remuneration scheme to HMRC, for example on their tax return, HMRC have opened an enquiry, and HMRC have subsequently closed their enquiry without making an adjustment to the tax position in respect of that scheme. In these instances HMRC will not apply the loan charge to the outstanding loan balance for that year.

Commonwealth Games 2022: Finance

Gavin Newlands: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2019 to Question 272191 on Public Expenditure: Scotland, what comparability percentage will be applied to the Government’s contribution to the 2022 Commonwealth Games budget; and what his timescale is for the publication of the revised Statement of Funding Policy.

Rishi Sunak: The UK government contribution to the 2022 Commonwealth Games budget is subject to the Barnett formula, which HM Treasury will apply in the normal way. As with previous Commonwealth Games, a comparability factor of 100% will be applied for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This will be reflected in the next edition of the Statement of Funding Policy, which is due to be published at the Spending Review in 2020. At Spending Round 2019, HM Treasury published a Statement of Funding Policy addendum with updated comparability factors to reflect the creation of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the reclassification of Network Rail spending from AME to DEL since Spending Review 2015.

Department for Education: Public Expenditure

Angela Rayner: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to table A5 of the Spending Round 2019, for what reason the CDEL allocation for the Department for Education has declined to £5 billion for 2019-20, compared to £5.1 billion in Budget 2018 for the same financial year.

Rishi Sunak: The Department for Education transferred £130 million of CDEL funding to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Growth in 2019-20. This funding is made available for skills capital funding through the Local Growth Fund, which is devolved to Local Enterprise Partnerships to spend on their capital priorities. The Budget 2018 document reflects the Department for Education’s CDEL allocation for 2019-20 prior to this transfer taking place. Table 3.11 of the Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2019, published in July 2019, takes into account this transfer. The Spending Round 2019 document reflects the Department for Education’s current CDEL allocation for 2019-20.

Credit Unions

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what plans he has to expand the credit union sector; and if he will make a statement.

John Glen: The government is committed to supporting credit unions, which contribute to the diversity of the UK’s financial services sector and provide vital services to financially under-served communities. At Autumn Budget 2018, the Chancellor announced a pilot of a new prize-linked savings scheme offered through credit unions. This will support the credit union sector through increased membership, awareness and deposits, as well as encouraging participants to build up savings to help them cope with financial shocks. At Autumn Budget 2018 the Chancellor also announced a new £2 million challenge fund to promote innovative solutions from the UK’s Fintech sector to address challenges faced by social and community lenders, including credit unions. In July 2019 the Government made it easier for Registered Social Landlords to refer tenants to social and community lenders, including credit unions. This should help encourage Registered Social Landlords to grow and develop existing new partnerships with credit unions.

Roadchef: Employee Benefit Trusts

Dr David Drew: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent progress has been made in resolving the dispute between the HMRC and the Roadchef Employee Benefits Trust; and if he will make a statement.

Jesse Norman: The administration of the tax system is a matter for HM Revenue and Customs. It would not be appropriate for Treasury Ministers to become involved in the administration of the tax system in specific cases.

Infrastructure: Finance

Alan Brown: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 3 September 2019 to Question 281813, Infrastructure, how much funding has been allocated to the delivery of the National Infrastructure Strategy in each of the last three years.

Jesse Norman: The National Infrastructure Strategy is due to be published later in the autumn. The Government has taken a number of major steps to increase infrastructure investment in recent years. The Treasury introduced the £37bn National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) to establish additional capital spending for areas critical for improving productivity, including economic infrastructure, R&D and housing. Transport investment will increase by 50% from 2015 to 2020. And more broadly, public sector net investment is due to reach levels not sustained in 40 years. As set out in Spending Round 2019, the Government will announce its ambitious plans for future capital spending later in the autumn, alongside publication of the National Infrastructure Strategy.

Homes England: Finance

Sarah Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his oral statement of 4 September 2019 on Spending Round 2019, how much funding he plans to allocate to Homes England to deliver more homes where people need them; how many homes are planned to be built and what the location will be of those homes.

Rishi Sunak: In the latest spending round we have increased the resource funding available to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for 2020/21 by 2.7% to deliver their priorities, including delivering the homes this country needs in the right places. As part of this settlement, MHCLG’s admin budget will increase from £258m in 2019/20 to £341m in 2020/21, within which funding for Homes England will also increase. This will enable them to continue delivering significant investment in housing, with at least £44bn of financial support committed at the Autumn Budget 2017 over a five-year period, and to support the Government’s overall ambition of 300,000 additional homes on average by the mid-2020s.

Buildings: Safety

Sarah Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his oral statement of 4 September 2019 entitled, Spending Round 2019, to what programmes will the £24 million additional funding for the Building Safety Programme to support the new building safety regime be allocated.

Rishi Sunak: The Spending Round confirmed that the Government will provide £24m of additional funding for the Building Safety Programme in 2020/21 to help prevent a tragedy like Grenfell happening again. The Government has announced that £10m of this funding will be available to support the Protection Board who will provide expert, tailored building checks and inspections, if necessary, on all high-risk residential buildings in England by 2021. The remaining funding will be used to support the new building safety regime.

Buildings: Safety

Sarah Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his oral statement of 4 September 2019 entitled, Spending Round 2019, what proportion of the £24 million additional funding for the Building Safety Programme to support the new building safety regime will be provided to (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations to support the data collection exercise on external wall systems in high rise buildings.

Rishi Sunak: The Spending Round confirmed that the Government will provide £24m of additional funding for the Building Safety Programme in 2020/21 to help prevent a tragedy like Grenfell happening again. Further to this, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed that an additional £4m of funding will be made available in 2019/20 to support LAs in the data collection exercise on external wall systems in high rise buildings.

Brexit

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of per head of population spending on contingency plans in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal in each (a) nation and (b) region of the UK.

Rishi Sunak: This Government would prefer to leave with a deal and will work in an energetic and determined way to get that better deal. But the Treasury stands ready to provide funding to prepare for leaving without a deal. That is why the Chancellor and I have made over £2bn available for no deal preparations this year (2019-20) since taking office. All parts of the UK have benefitted from this funding, with the Barnett formula being applied in the usual way. Should the UK leave without a deal, the Treasury will consider the appropriate response. The Government and the Bank of England have fiscal and monetary policy tools available, and are ready to respond as appropriate to support the economy should the circumstances require. The government has already guaranteed that UK organisations who get EU programme funding will continue to do so should the EU cease to fund these organisations after exit.

Agriculture: Scotland

Luke Graham: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether the £160 million announced in Spending Round 2019 as a result of the Bew Review will be ringfenced for agriculture so that the Scottish Parliament can decide how it is allocated within that sector.

Rishi Sunak: The Chancellor announced at the recent Spending Round that we will provide £160m to the Scottish Government in 2020-21 in relation to historic allocations of Common Agricultural Policy ‘convergence’ funding. The additional funding will be ring-fenced for farmers and land managers in Scotland. The review led by Lord Bew of Donegore has considered a separate but related matter.

Tax Avoidance

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister of 4 September 2019, what steps he plans to take to ensure that a review into the 2019 Loan Charge is independent of (a) his Department and (b) HMRC.

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister of 4 September 2019, who will undertake the review of the Loan Charge, and what the timeframe is for that review.

Jesse Norman: The Government will set out details of the review shortly.

Tax Avoidance

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister of 4 September 2019, whether he plans to suspend the collection of settlements in relation to the 2019 Loan Charge while a review is being undertaken.

Jesse Norman: The Prime Minister on 4 September 2019 announced that the Government will undertake a thorough review of the loan charge. The Government will set out further details shortly and HMRC will confirm the next steps for those affected soon afterwards. No settlements have been suspended and the loan charge remains in force. HMRC have paused in finalising new settlements, while details of the review are being confirmed. Those who have settled their disguised remuneration scheme use and have agreed a payment plan with HMRC should continue to pay their settlements in line with their contract agreements.

Transport: Finance

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendation of the National Infrastructure Assessment to provide devolved, long-term transport funding to all city regions.

Rishi Sunak: The government is carefully considering the National Infrastructure Commission’s recommendations, including on transport funding for cities. It is already investing significantly in intra-city transport with the £2.5 billion Transforming Cities Fund set up in 2017 which provides devolved funding to six Mayoral Combined Authorities outside of London and competitive funding to up to twelve shortlisted city regions.The National Infrastructure Strategy will be published later in the autumn setting out the government’s assessment of the NIC’s recommendations, alongside ambitious plans for future capital spending.

Schools: Northern Ireland

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that additional funding for schools announced in his oral statement on 4 September on Spending Review 2019 will be allocated to school budgets in Northern Ireland in the absence of a functioning Assembly and Executive.

Rishi Sunak: The UK Government has taken steps to ensure funding is made available to support education in Northern Ireland. As part of the Fresh Start and Stormont House Agreements, the Government committed to provide up to £300m to support shared and integrated cross-community education programmes in Northern Ireland. As education is a devolved matter, the Barnett formula will be applied in Northern Ireland with respect to the funding announced for schools in the Spending Round 2019. The allocation of the Northern Ireland block grant is a devolved matter.

Offences against Children: Northern Ireland

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Office on funding for a compensation scheme for the victims of historical institutional abuse in Northern Ireland.

Rishi Sunak: I discuss matters of importance to the people of Northern Ireland on a regular basis with the Northern Ireland Office. The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland is working hard to deliver the redress scheme at the earliest opportunity, and any costs associated with the proposals will be met by the Northern Ireland block grant, as this is a devolved matter.

Carbon Emissions: Capital Investment

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the spending round statement on 4 September 2019, what the value is of the planned additional capital investments in decarbonisation in 2020-21.

Mr Simon Clarke: This Spending Round provides significant additional resource (£30m) for the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to accelerate progress on developing decarbonisation schemes that will help the UK toward its Net Zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050. BEIS decarbonisation programmes already have capital budgets set for 2020/2021. Further detail on how the UK will make progress towards this ambitious target will be set out in the National Infrastructure Strategy this autumn.

Environment Protection: Finance

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount of funding allocated to (a) decarbonisation and (b) protecting and enhancing biodiversity and the natural environment in each of the next three years.

Mr Simon Clarke: The government uses a range of policy levers – including spending – to achieve its environmental objectives while growing the economy. The Clean Growth Strategy set out significant investment by the Government in clean growth including £2.5 billion to support low carbon innovation from 2015-2021, £1 billion to support the uptake of ultra-low emissions vehicles and £4.5bn to support development of renewable and low carbon heating through the Renewable Heat Incentive. At Spring Statement there were a number of environmental announcements, including a new Review on the Economics of Biodiversity. The recent Spending Round provides additional funding for decarbonisation, air quality, and biodiversity including £30m for BEIS to accelerate progress on decarbonisation schemes and £30m for DEFRA to protect and enhance biodiversity. Most programmes already have capital budgets set for 2020/2021. We will set out further details of our plans for decarbonisation in the infrastructure strategy later this year.

Small Businesses

Deidre Brock: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish the correspondence between the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and HMRC on support to SMEs in the event that the UK leaves the EU without an agreement.

Jesse Norman: In line with the practice of successive administrations, details of ministerial discussions and correspondence are not normally disclosed.

Infrastructure: Investment

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure a long-term approach to infrastructure investment as recommended in the National Infrastructure Assessment.

Jesse Norman: As set out in Spending Round 2019, the Government will announce its ambitious plans for future capital spending later in the autumn, including through the publication of the National Infrastructure Strategy. This Strategy will set out the Government’s plans to deliver a step change in infrastructure investment to support the UK economy and will provide the Government’s official response to the National Infrastructure Assessment, which set out an assessment of the UK’s long-term infrastructure needs.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will allocate a fixed proportion of road tax receipts for the repair of roads.

Mr Simon Clarke: The government is delivering its commitment to hypothecate English Vehicle Excise Duty to roads spending, and has announced that the National Roads Fund will be £28.8 billion between 2020-25. From this, we expect £25.3 billion to be spent on the Road Investment Strategy 2, which will repair, renew and enhance the Strategic Road Network. The remaining £3.5 billion will be spent on local roads, with major structural renewals eligible for funding. On top of this, we have allocated £6.6 billion between 2015 and 2021 to local highway authorities in England, outside London, for highways maintenance.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will allocate a fixed proportion of fuel duty receipts for the repair of roads.

Mr Simon Clarke: Fuel Duty receipts are collected for the consolidated fund. However, all English Vehicle Excise Duty revenues will be set aside for the £28.8bn National Roads Fund from 2020 to provide long term certainty for roads investment.

Housing: Prices

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect on house prices on Teesside of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

John Glen: The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes monthly data on house prices by region. We have been very clear that we are focused on getting a deal, and hope that the EU will agree to negotiate changes to the withdrawal agreement. The fundamentals of the British economy are strong – wages are growing, employment is at a record high and the unemployment rate is at a historic low. Furthermore, we will continue to closely monitor any developments in economic risks to firms, sectors, and regions.The Government and the Bank of England have the policy tools available, and are ready to deliver the necessary response to a No Deal exit.

Exchange Rates

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on the exchange rate of Sterling with the Euro in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

John Glen: It is not appropriate for the government to comment on specific currency market movements. The government accepts the market-based price of sterling and does not have a view on what level this should be. Moreover, speculating on the value of sterling could hurt confidence in our macroeconomic framework. It is important to remember that the UK’s macroeconomic framework is based on an inflation target, and it is for the independent Monetary Policy Committee to set monetary policy to meet this target.

Football Pools: Taxation

Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the equity of the level of tax on the football pools industry.

Mr Simon Clarke: The football pools industry is subject to Pool Betting Duty (PBD). PBD also covers a range of gambling activity beyond the football pools. PBD is charged at 15% on gross profits (stakes minus prizes), which is the same rate as for general betting. This has been constant since 2002. All taxes are kept under review and the rate of PBD is considered as part of the Budget process.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

ICT: Training

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent steps his Department has taken to increase levels of IT literacy to help prevent the spread of malware and ransomware.

Matt Warman: Government is supporting increased levels of IT literacy through the refresh of the Essential Digital Skills (EDS) Framework, which sets out the skills learners require to be safe, legal and confident online, and find, manage, and store digital information securely, thereby helping them guard against malware and ransomware. The EDS framework is the basis of the training delivered through the £18m ‘Future Digital Inclusion’ programme. Delivered by a network of 5,000 Online Centres, which are primarily based in libraries and other community spaces, this programme has supported over 1 million adult learners since 2014 to develop essential digital skills.Government is also supporting IT literacy through the introduction of a national entitlement to basic digital skills courses from 2020, similar to the existing legal entitlements for English and Maths. This will provide adults of any age the opportunity to undertake improved qualifications, based on the EDS framework, free of charge.Government is also supporting cyber security through Cyber Aware; a campaign which aims to increase UK citizens’ and businesses’ resilience to cyber crime by encouraging the adoption of secure online behaviours. Key promoted advice includes, to always install your e-device’s latest app and software updates to make it less vulnerable to cyber threats.In addition, the flagship skills programme GDS Academy teaches civil servants the digital skills, awareness and knowledge they need to transform and build the best public services. It offers training in subjects including agile project delivery and user-centred design. The GDS Academy runs across the country, with courses in Leeds, London, Manchester and Newcastle, as well as a partnership with the Scottish Government. More than 10,000 civil servants have been trained since it was set up in 2014.Departments have built their digital professionalism and capability, with over 10,000 civil servants now having been trained by the GDS Academy; new standards have made services across government consistent, accessible and intuitive; and departments have delivered exemplar digital services.

Artificial Intelligence: Public Sector

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of creating a standardised procurement code for privately developed algorithms used in the public sector which includes mandatory human rights, data protection and equality impact assessments.

Matt Warman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Plastics: Wimbledon

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department had with the All England Club on the use of single use plastics at Wimbledon.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cybercrime

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 22 July 2019 to Question 277853, whether her Department has set a timeframe for the publication of guidance on the use of DNS over HTTPS.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of young people eligible for the National Citizen's Service took part in the programme in 2018.

Nicky Morgan: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of the young people taking part in the National Citizen's Service in 2018 were (a) on free school meals, (b) BAME, (c) SEND and (d) living in the most deprived areas.

Nicky Morgan: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Voluntary Work: Young People

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport what proportion of the National Citizen Service Programme budget was spent in 2018.

Nicky Morgan: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Youth Work: Manchester Central

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many youth workers there were in Manchester Central constituency in (a) 2009 and (b) 2019.

Nicky Morgan: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Rebecca Pow: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Biometrics: Privacy

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the (a) effect of increased use of facial recognition software on privacy and (b) the adequacy of existing legislation to protect privacy.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Lotteries: Regulation

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the oral statement of 16 July 2019 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Official Report, column 718, on Lotteries Regulation, when she plans to lay the statutory instrument to implement the society lotteries reforms as set out in that statement.

Rebecca Pow: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Lotteries: Regulation

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the oral statement of 16 July 2019 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Official Report, column 718, on Lotteries Regulation, what further steps she plans to take to implement the society lotteries reform as set out in that statement.

Rebecca Pow: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Lotteries: Regulation

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the oral statement of 16 July 2019 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Official Report, column 718, on Lotteries Regulation, when she plans (a) to announce further progress towards implementing the society lotteries reforms announced in that statement and (b) for legislation relating to those reforms to come into force.

Rebecca Pow: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Lotteries: Regulation

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the oral statement of 16 July 2019 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Official Report, column 718, on Lotteries Regulation, when she plans to announce further progress on implementing the (a) per-draw sales limit to increase to £5 million, (b) maximum prize limit to increase to £500,000 and (c) annual sales limit to increase to £50 million for society lotteries.

Rebecca Pow: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Lotteries: Regulation

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the oral statement of 16 July 2019 by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Official Report, column 718, on Lotteries Regulation, if she will publish the (a) scope and (b) timescales of (i) her Department’s consultation on the appropriate regulatory regime for society lotteries and (ii) the Gambling Commission’s consultation on the licensing framework for large society lotteries.

Rebecca Pow: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Social Media: Advertising

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to require social media companies to maintain a public archive of advertisements published on their platforms.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Football Association Premier League: Living Wage

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to require Premier League football clubs to pay at least the Living Wage to all directly and indirectly employed staff.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Politics: Advertising

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to create a regulator for online political advertising.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Data Protection: Crime

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of making breaches of an individual's data a criminal offence.

Nigel Adams: The Government takes both the protection of personal data and the right to privacy extremely seriously. Individuals and organisations responsible for some of the most serious data breaches are already liable to criminal prosecution under the Data Protection Act 2018. For example, people can be prosecuted if they unlawfully obtain, disclose or retain personal data; re-identify personal data that has been pseudonymised without lawful basis; or deliberately frustrate investigations by the Information Commissioner. Where criminal penalties are not available, the Commissioner can impose significant administrative penalties, including fines of up to 4% of global turnover or £18 million, whichever is higher.The Government worked closely with the Information Commissioner throughout the passage of Data Protection Bill to strengthen and modernise our legislation. We will continue to work closely with the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to ensure her enforcement powers remain fit for purpose to deal with increasingly complex investigations in our digital economy and society.

Malvern Hills Trust

Harriett Baldwin: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of using the Charity Commission Section 72 mechanism to consolidate the five Acts of Parliament governing the Malvern Hills Trust into one new piece of legislation.

Nicky Morgan: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Subscriptions: Misrepresentation

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking with the Advertising Standards Authority to ensure subscription services do not mislead consumers into signing up for their services when they make a purchase through a website.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Tourism: Wales

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the value of tourism in Wales to the UK economy.

Rebecca Pow: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Statutory Instruments

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether reference copies of statutory instruments are available in hard copy via the public library service; and if she will make a statement.

Rebecca Pow: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cybercrime: Skilled Workers

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to her Department's announcement entitled New boost to increase diversity in nation’s cyber security industry, published 14 August 2019, what target her Department has set on the number of individuals who will be assisted by the third round of funding from the Cyber Skills Immediate Impact Fund (CSIIF).

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Toys and Games: Safety

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to include the harm caused to consumers by unsafe toys sold on online marketplaces in the Government’s online harms framework.

Matt Warman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what meetings her Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Internet: Safety

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of the new internet protocol DNS over HTTPS on the effectiveness of UK law enforcement and regulation online; and if she will make a statement.

Matt Warman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Internet: Safety

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of DNS over HTTPS on data privacy of UK citizens in view of the potential for large quantities of user data to move outwith the UK.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Internet: Safety

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with (a) Google, (b) Mozilla and (c) Cloudflare on the new DNS over HTTPS protocol and ensuring the online safety and security of UK citizens.

Matt Warman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Nuisance Calls

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of nuisance calls to UK numbers.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Nuisance Calls

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to reduce the level of nuisance calls.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Nuisance Calls

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what proactive investigative capacity exists to support enforcement of laws against nuisance calling and associated business practices.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Nuisance Calls

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if her Department will take steps to (a) identify countries that are hotspots of illegal nuisance calling to the UK and associated business activity and (b) improve collaboration with regulators and other investigative and enforcement authorities in those countries.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

YouTube: Artificial Intelligence

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the New York Times report, entitled How YouTube Radicalised Brazil, published 11 August 2019, if she will make an assessment of whether YouTube’s recommendation algorithm has played a role in increasing (a) radicalisation and (b) misinformation.

Matt Warman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

YouTube: Artificial Intelligence

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the effect of YouTube’s recommendation algorithm on trends in the level of (a) radicalisation and (b) misinformation in the UK in the last three years.

Matt Warman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Football: Finance

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to continue to provide funding for the Football Association Parklife project.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Commonwealth Games 2022

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure the 2022 Commonwealth Games are environmentally sustainable.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Commonwealth Games 2022

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure the 2022 Commonwealth Games are economically sustainable.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

101 Calls: Fees and Charges

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment he has made of the barriers to 3 network customers connecting to the 101 service due to tariff issues.

Matt Warman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Brexit

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what meetings her Department has had with Leeds City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sanitary Protection: VAT

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to reduce the minimum level for applications for funding from the Tampon Tax Community Fund.

Nicky Morgan: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

5G: Scotland

Stephen Kerr: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to respond to the Scottish Government's 5G strategy entitled Forging our Digital Future with 5G: A strategy for Scotland, published on 26 August 2019.

Matt Warman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

YouTube: Disinformation

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential effect of YouTube’s recommendation algorithm and misinformation on public health in the last three years.

Matt Warman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Mobile Phones: Fees and Charges

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to prevent mobile telecommunications companies from financially exploiting consumers with roaming charges in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Matt Warman: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Gambling

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to reduce problem gambling.

Rebecca Pow: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

BBC: Finance

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if she will reduce Government funding to the BBC in proportion to the amount of compensation paid in out-of-court to victims of malpractice by that organisation in any given year.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Data Protection

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what the timetable is for requesting an adequacy assessment of UK data protection regulations from the EU if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October.

Nigel Adams: In no deal, it is in everyone’s interests that the exchange of personal data between EU Member States and the UK continues.The European Commission has said that adopting adequacy decisions is not part of their priority no deal contingency planning. In light of this, we do not expect the European Commission to have made adequacy decisions regarding the UK at the point of exit.However, the UK is ready to commence an adequacy assessment now. We will continue to make the case to the European Commission to start the adequacy assessments as soon as possible.

Data Protection

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the free flow of commercially valuable data between the UK and EU of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Nigel Adams: Data flows are important to consumers and businesses, including start-ups, SMEs and large corporations, as the ability to collect, share and process personal data is crucial for the digital and wider economy. The free flow of personal data is an important underpinning feature of the UK’s and EU’s future relationship for both economic and security purposes. In no deal, it is in everyone’s interests that the exchange of personal data between EU Member States and the UK continues.In no deal, given the degree of alignment between the UK and EU’s data protection regimes, the UK will transitionally recognise all EEA states, EU adequate third countries, EU and EEA institutions, and Gibraltar, as though they have been subject to an affirmative adequacy decision by the UK. This will allow personal data to continue to flow freely from the UK to the EU. The UK would keep all of these decisions under review.UK and EU/EEA organisations should take steps immediately to mitigate the impact by implementing alternative transfer mechanisms to send personal data from the EU/EEA to the UK. Details of what alternative transfer mechanisms are available and how to make use of them are set out in guidance from the Information Commissioner’s Office and on GOV.UK.

Commemorative Plaques

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department (a) allocates funding and (b) issues guidance to civic organisations on blue plaques.

Rebecca Pow: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Digital Broadcasting: Radio

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what progress her Department has made on implementing small-scale DAB radio.

Nigel Adams: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Mental Health Services: Research

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many applications for research into mindfulness-based therapies were (a) accepted and (b) rejected by the Medical Research Council in each of the last three years.

Nadhim Zahawi: In the last three years the Medical Research Council has funded one project relevant to mindfulness-based therapies. £149k was awarded in 2018 to researchers based at the University of Bristol for two years to evaluate a multi-stage intervention to improve foster carers mental health and well-being. The number of applications and success rates for projects relevant to mindfulness-based therapies cannot be provided. All applications to UK Research and Innovation are submitted in confidence and when research topics are specialised in nature, releasing information on the number of applications may result in Research Organisations and applicants potentially being identified.

Offshore Industry

Andrew Bowie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress his Department has made on implementing an oil and gas sector deal; and if he will make a statement.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Offshore Industry: Scotland

Andrew Bowie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department has met with (a) the Scottish Government and (b) representatives of the oil and gas industry in Scotland to discuss (i) domestic skills, (ii) training and (iii) recruitment in that industry in Scotland.

Kwasi Kwarteng: Both Ministers and officials in this department regularly meet with counterparts from the Scottish Government to discuss a wide range of issues impacting the oil and gas sector in Scotland. However, given that skills and related issues in Scotland are devolved these issues are a matter for the Devolved Administration. BEIS Ministers and officials meet regularly with the oil and gas industry. For example, I met a range of oil and gas industry representatives and a member of the Scottish Government during a visit to Aberdeen on 2 September 2019. The visit included attendance at the Maximising Economic Recovery UK (MER UK) Forum, where a range of industry issues were discussed. On 20 August 2019 the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy visited Aberdeen where she met representatives from the energy industry.

Business: West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

Andrew Bowie: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps he has taken to support businesses in the West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine constituency.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government is supporting businesses in West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine to develop and thrive.  The British Business Bank has issued 46 loans in the area totalling £493,319 and we continue to deliver the £250 million Aberdeen City Region Deal investing in oil & gas, bio-therapeutics and food innovation, improvements in digital infrastructure, a strategic transport appraisal and the expansion of Aberdeen harbour.

Insolvency

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if she will review pre-packaged administration deals and make an assessment of the potential merits of preventing directors of a failed company becoming directors of the new company in cases where pension liabilities are passed onto the Pension Protection Fund.

Kelly Tolhurst: The government has recently carried out a review of the impact of voluntary industry measures introduced in 2015 to improve confidence in pre-packaged sales in administration. The review will inform a decision on whether further regulation is required where a business is sold via a pre-pack sale to a person connected with the old company. We expect to publish the outcome of the review shortly. As part of the review the Government liaised with the Pension Protection Fund, which made clear in its response to concerns raised by the Chair of the DWP Select Committee, that it does not fundamentally take issue with pre-packs but where there are concerns, these are referred to The Pensions Regulator for investigation. The government already has robust measures in place to prevent directors of insolvent companies who are guilty of poor behaviour from taking part in the management of companies in the future. When a company enters a formal insolvency procedure, such as administration, the insolvency practitioner has a legal duty to report to the Insolvency Service on the conduct of the directors and where wrongdoing is identified, action can be taken to disqualify them for up to 15 years. The government response to the 2018 White Paper “Protecting Defined Benefit Pension Schemes” proposes additional powers for The Pensions Regulator with a tougher approach to the minority of employers whose irresponsible behaviour does put pension schemes at risk.

Loneliness

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made against the commitment set out in the Loneliness Strategy to work in partnership with Campaign to End Loneliness, British Red Cross, the Association of Convenience Stores and others, to explore how businesses can provide community space out of business hours or engage with the wider community in other ways.

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made against the commitment set out in the Loneliness Strategy to capture and share the work businesses are doing to help tackle loneliness in the wider community and to promote that work and develop it further.

Kelly Tolhurst: Employers can play an important role in tackling loneliness in their workforce and wider society. The Department continues to work with the Campaign to End Loneliness to run an Employers’ Leadership Group on Loneliness. The group strengthens cooperation and coordination between Government, business and other groups with an interest in tackling loneliness. The group, which includes the Association of Convenience Stores and the British Red Cross, is currently carrying out work to identify good practice and produce case studies and guidance to help employers tackle loneliness – both in the workforce and in the wider community.

Renewable Energy: Housing

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment she has made of the effect of Government policies on domestic renewable energy installations on their increased potential use in the UK.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Feed-In Tariffs scheme was introduced to support the widespread adoption of proven small-scale low-carbon electricity generating technologies. The scheme was intended to give the wider public a stake in the transition to a low-carbon economy and in turn foster behavioural change that would support the development of local supply chains and reductions in energy costs. To date the scheme has supported over 830,000 installations, or 6 GW of capacity. The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is the world’s first long-term financial support programme for renewable heat. The RHI pays participants of the scheme that generate and use renewable heat, or that provide green gas to the gas grid. Under the RHI, the Government has supported over 71,500 homes and over 19,500 businesses, schools, farms and other organisations to install new low carbon heating systems, and these numbers continue to grow (in August 2019 there were over 1,100 domestic applications to participate in the scheme). We estimate that by 2021 the RHI will have supported 21.4 terawatt hours of renewable heat generation. This is equivalent to the annual gas consumption of over 1.6 million households. In January 2020 the government is introducing a new Smart Export Guarantee, which will ensure that homes and businesses who export their surplus low carbon electricity to the grid can receive payment from their energy suppliers.

Vauxhall Motors: Ellesmere Port

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to secure the long-term future of the Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port.

Nadhim Zahawi: Vauxhall - part of Groupe PSA - is a key part of the UK’s successful automotive industry, with major commercial vehicle manufacturing in Luton, as well as its significant operation at Ellesmere Port. Groupe PSA recently announced that the next generation Astra could be produced at Ellesmere Port. My Officials and I are continuing active dialogue with Vauxhall and others in the Automotive sector, to support investments in new technology, R&D and electrification.

Civil Nuclear Constabulary: Arrests

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many arrests have been made by the Civil Nuclear Constabulary in each of the past five years; and how many prosecutions arose from those arrests.

Nadhim Zahawi: Arrests made by the Civil Nuclear Constabulary: 2015 – 52016 – 162017 – 262018 – 462019 – 29 (04 September 2019)  How many prosecutions arose from those arrests? Any prosecutions would have been led by the relevant Home Office territorial Force or Police Scotland. The outcomes of any prosecutions are not communicated to the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. As a result, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary does not hold this information.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much her Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Nadhim Zahawi: For the year end 31 March 2018 the core department spent a net total of £3,827 (31 March 2017: £3,383) which were classified as refreshments within the department’s audited accounts.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Manufacturing Industries: Brexit

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether her Department plans to provide cash flow support to manufacturers in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Government has been clear that should the UK leave the EU without a deal, we would support businesses through whatever appropriate action is necessary. Programmes operated by the Government owned British Business Bank are currently supporting more than £6.6 billion of finance to over 89,000 SMEs. In particular, the Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) facilitates business finance to smaller businesses that are viable but unable to obtain finance from their lender due to having insufficient security to meet the lender’s normal requirements.

Renewable Energy

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) hydrogen fuel cell and (b) micro combined heat and power technologies purchased by UK consumers in each of the last ten years.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Microgeneration

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps her Department has taken to support the research and development of electricity and heat microgeneration technologies.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cottam Power Station

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) decommissioning date is of Cottam Coal Power Station; and what plans are in place to replace that capacity when the power station is decommissioned.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Didcot GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Little Barford GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Loch Carnan, South Uist Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Grain GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Sutton Bridge Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Shoreham Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Saltend Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Carrington Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Spalding Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Wilton GT Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Pilkington - Greengate Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) decommissioning date is of West Burton Coal Power Station; and what plans are in place to replace that capacity when the power station is decommissioned.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) decommissioning date is of Aberthaw B Coal Power Station; and what plans are in place to replace that capacity when the power station is decommissioned.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) decommissioning date is of Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station; and what plans are in place to replace that capacity when the power station is decommissioned.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) decommissioning date is of Ratcliffe Coal Power Station; and what plans are in place to replace that capacity when the power station is decommissioned.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) decommissioning date is of Drax Coal Power Station; and what plans are in place to replace that capacity when the power station is decommissioned.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Ballylumford B GT1 and GT2 Power Station; and what plans are in place to replace that capacity when the power station is decommissioned.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Kilroot GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Baglan Bay GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Drax GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of West Burton GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Indian Queens Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Coolkeeragh GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Aberthaw GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Cowes Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Arnish Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Barra Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Bowmore Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Fiddler’s Ferry GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Five Oaks Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Keadby GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Kirkwall Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Lerwick Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Stornoway Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Thatcham Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Ratcliffe GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Taylor's Lane GT Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation and (b) allowable capacity is of Peterhead Natural Gas Power Station; what the reasons are for the reduced capacity; and what the estimated decommissioning date is.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Severn Power Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Glanford Brigg Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Peterborough Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Blackburn Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Fellside CHP Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Cottam Development Centre Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Enfield Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Grain CHP Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Killingholme Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of VPI Immingham Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Damhead Creek Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Rye House Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Castleford Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Sandbach Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Thornhill Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Barkantine Heat and Power Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of London Heat and Power Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of West Burton CCGT Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Langage Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of South Humber Bank Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Corby Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Coryton Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what is the generation capacity of what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Rocksavage Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Marchwood Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Didcot B Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Great Yarmouth Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Little Barford Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Pembroke Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Staythorpe C Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Seabank Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Burghfield Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Chickerell Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Chippenham Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Keadby Natural Gas Power Station.

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the (a) generation capacity and (b) estimated decommissioning date is of Medway Natural Gas Power Station.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fuel Poverty: Wansbeck

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate she has made of the number of households living in fuel poverty in Wansbeck constituency.

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many excess winter deaths in Wansbeck constituency in 2018-19 were due to people unable to heat their homes.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The number of households living in fuel poverty in Wansbeck constituency in 2017 can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/sub-regional-fuel-poverty-data-2019, Table 5 The total number of excess winter deaths in Wansbeck constituency in 2016-17 can be found at the following link:https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/adhocs/009366excesswintermortalitybyparliamentaryconstituencyenglandandwales2016to2017. Figures are not published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for specific causes at Parliamentary Constituency level because the number of excess winter deaths are very low.

Solar Power: Batteries

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate she has made of the rate of solar battery uptake in each of the last 10 years.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Government does not hold data on the combined installation of solar and batteries.

Microgeneration

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate she has made of the number of (a) manufacturers, (b) suppliers and (c) consumers of electricity and heat microgeneration technologies in each nation and region of the UK.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Microgeneration

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate she has made of the proportion of microgeneration technologies in the UK that are produced domestically.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Microgeneration: Employment

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate she has made of the number of jobs in the microgeneration sector; and what proportion of those jobs are in (a) product manufacture, (b) design and (c) installation.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Renewable Energy: Feed-in Tariffs

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions she has had with Ofgem on the replacement of the Feed-In Tariff scheme with the Smart Export Guarantee scheme.

Kwasi Kwarteng: BEIS officials have been engaging regularly with Ofgem to discuss the development of the new Smart Export Guarantee which will be introduced in Great Britain from 1 January 2020.

Microgeneration: Feed-in Tariffs

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions she has had with the microgeneration industry and microtechnology producers on the replacement of the Feed-In Tariff scheme with the Smart Export Guarantee scheme.

Kwasi Kwarteng: In developing the new Smart Export Guarantee my Department issued a Call for Evidence on the future for small-scale low-carbon generation, a Consultation on the Smart Export Guarantee, and a Consultation on proposals to modify electricity supply licence conditions for the purpose of introducing the Smart Export Guarantee. Stakeholder discussions during these consultations included public events held in London, Scotland, and Wales.

Mortgages: Environment Protection

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the criteria required for home-owners to receive green mortgages.

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment she has made of the potential for green mortgages and other lending products to incentivise energy efficiency among home-owners.

Kwasi Kwarteng: Green finance, including green mortgages, has the potential to play a vital role in the transition to a net zero economy. In the Building a Market for Energy Efficiency call for evidence we sought evidence on the barriers to the uptake of energy efficiency, including access to finance. The responses we received showed that while some green finance products are already available, for the most part these remain specialist products and are not yet widely offered. Based on the responses received, in the Green Finance Strategy we announced a £5 million Green Home Finance Innovation Fund that will support the development and piloting of innovative green finance products and committed to consult on requirements for lenders to support homeowners to improve the energy efficiency of homes in their portfolios. We have also ensured that Energy Performance Certificate data is available to support financial institutions in product development.

Postal Services: Rural Areas

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to support postmasters in rural areas.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices and postmasters play in rural communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why in its 2017 manifesto the Government committed to safeguarding the post office network and protect existing rural services. Around 6,100 of the 11,500 Post Office branches across the UK are located in rural areas and 3,200 are classified as community branches, meaning that they are the last shop in the village. Government recognises the unique challenges of running a community branch and supports the postmasters who run them with fixed remuneration in addition to the remuneration they receive for transactions. Post Office Limited recently announced they will increase fixed remuneration for all community branches and will also bring forward to August increases in remuneration for handling cash deposits. Finally, to explore what more can be done to support all postmasters, we have convened a quarterly working group meeting with Post Office Limited and the National Federation of Sub-Postmasters (NFSP). The focus of the working group is ensuring that running a Post Office becomes an even more attractive business proposition for current and prospective postmasters.

Satellites

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is Government policy to build a satellite system to rival the EU's Galileo network.

Nadhim Zahawi: In the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the Government made a commitment to enhance the resilience of Position, Navigation and Timing services for military, key domestic resilience responders, including Critical National Infrastructure. The terms that the European Commission are prepared to offer for continued UK participation in Galileo fall short of the minimum that we consider acceptable, to be able to rely on Galileo for such critical services. As such, in December 2018, the former Prime Minister announced that we would not use Galileo for these users. The UK Space Agency with the Ministry of Defence is currently undertaking an Engineering, Design and Development Phase to confirm the viability of a UK Global Navigation Satellite System to meet the specific needs of the UK and its allies. The UK Government does not see our work on a UK GNSS as a rival to Galileo, we are designing a system that meets the specific needs of the UK and allies and one that would provide services complimentary to Galileo and other Global Navigation Satellite Systems. This approach fits in the wider UK ambition for space, which will see the UK as leaders of the global space industry with a target to capture 10% of the global space economy by 2030.

Mineworkers' Pension Scheme

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment she has made of the potential merits of increasing the share of the miners' pension scheme’s surplus that goes to former miners.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electric Vehicles

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy,  what incentive schemes the Government has established to encourage the take-up of electric vehicles; and what assessment her Department has made of the outcomes of each of those schemes.

Nadhim Zahawi: We are investing nearly £1.5bn‎ between April 2015 and March 2021 to support the transition to zero emission motoring. Grants are available for ultra-Low emission vehicles, including cars, vans, lorries and taxis. We also provide schemes to support the installation of charge points in homes, workplaces and on residential streets for those without off-street parking. This represents one of the most comprehensive support packages in the world for the transition to zero emission vehicles. In 2013 we published Driving the Future Today A strategy for ultra low emission vehicles in the UK, in which we projected Ultra Low Emission Vehicles would be between 3% – 7% of the market, we remain on track to meet this target.

Electric Vehicles: Take-up

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what comparative assessment her Department has made the effectiveness of incentive schemes established to encourage the take-up of electric vehicles in (a) the UK, (b) Germany, (c) France, (d) Italy and (e) Spain; and what proportion of grants for electric vehicle purchases are funded by (i) the Government and (ii) industry in each of those countries.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Parental Leave

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that the parental leave system supports men and women equally to take time out of the workplace to care for children.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Shared Parental Leave & Pay scheme was introduced in 2015. This scheme gives eligible working parents more choice and flexibility around which of them cares for their child in the first year and when they do this. We are currently consulting on high-level options for how we can better balance the gender division of the parental leave and pay system. Responses to the consultation will be considered alongside our evaluation of the Shared Parental Leave & Pay scheme which is already underway.

Solar Power

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what her policy is on enabling solar technologies to access the Contracts for Difference auction mechanism.

Kwasi Kwarteng: Solar PV has deployed successfully to date in the UK, with 13.5GW installed operational capacity as a result of government policy. Several solar projects are currently deploying without subsidy from the Government and we expect others may follow. No decisions have been made on future Contracts for Difference allocation rounds for Pot 1 technologies, which include solar.

Harland and Wolff: Insolvency

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what financial support the Government offered Harland and Wolff prior to that company entering administration.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Northern Ireland Office (NIO) has been leading efforts across the UK Government to help find a positive commercial outcome, including engaging with BEIS to explore a number of options which may have been available. However, the powers to provide financial support are devolved in Northern Ireland, and it is therefore within the powers available to a restored Executive to intervene.

Rain Forests: Amazonia

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his Department's policies of recent trends in the level of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Productivity

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many of the commitments agreed in each sector deal have (a) been met in full, (b) been met in part and (c) not been met.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Industry

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Industrial Policy Council plans to publish its next report assessing progress on the implementation of the Industrial Strategy against success measures.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Industrial Strategy Council plan to publish its Annual Report at the end of the year.

Magnox: Contracts

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the final report of the Magnox inquiry into the award of the Magnox decommissioning contract by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and its subsequent termination will be published.

Nadhim Zahawi: The final report for the Magnox Inquiry is currently subject to an ongoing judicial review. We hope that the Magnox Inquiry will be able to publish it's report in the near future, subject to the outcome of the Judicial Review.

Nuclear Decommissioning Authority: Subsidiary Companies

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many subsidiaries the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (a) has to date and (b) is projected to have by the end of 2019.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, as of the 4th September, has 8 subsidiaries. These subsidiaries are Sellafield Ltd, Magnox Ltd(as of 1st September), Radioactive Waste Management Ltd, Direct Rail Services Ltd, International Nuclear Services Ltd, NDA Archives Ltd, NDA Properties Ltd and Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. There are no further projected changes to NDA subsidiaries before the end of 2019.

Radioactive Waste: Storage

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether (a) she or (b) the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will make a decision, following consultation, on whether more nuclear waste from former Magnox Stations will be stored in situ for the indefinite future.

Nadhim Zahawi: Guidance issued by the environment agencies (Guidance on Requirements for Release of Nuclear Sites from Radioactive Substances Regulation) identifies a credible option of leaving behind some low level radioactive waste as a permitted disposal after a nuclear site has been decommissioned. All Site Licence Companies, including Magnox Ltd, are required to consider the new guidance when defining the optimum end state for each site. In situ disposal of some wastes, rather than retrieving and disposing of it in some other manner, could significantly reduce environmental impacts, health and safety risks and costs and preserve much-needed waste disposal infrastructure capacity. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Magnox Ltd, which became a subsidiary of the NDA on 1 September 2019, will continually review key strategies (including those relating to waste management and end states) and engage with stakeholders where necessary to ensure that plans represent the best and most up-to-date approaches.

Soaps

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans she has to ban antibacterial agents in soap.

Kelly Tolhurst: All cosmetic products supplied in the UK, whether for consumer or professional use, must comply with EU Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 on Cosmetic Products. The Regulation sets out requirements for product and ingredient safety assessments. It governs the use of ingredients in cosmetic products, banning some, restricting others, and in the case of preservatives, specifying which can be used and their maximum concentrations. Manufacturers are responsible for ensuring the safety of their products and the products must undergo an expert scientific safety assessment before they are sold. This includes safety assessments of any antibacterial agents used.

Small Businesses: Oldham

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with Oldham Council on the potential effect on small businesses in Oldham of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Energy: Prices

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions her Department has had with Oldham Council on the potential effect on energy prices of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Brexit

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings her Department has had with Leeds City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Nadhim Zahawi: BEIS Ministers and officials have been engaging throughout the country with businesses of all sizes and their representatives, trade associations and local enterprise partnerships, including through regular meetings. We communicate regularly with intermediaries to ensure businesses obtain information quickly and efficiently. We will continue to engage across the business population to ensure their priorities are reflected and that businesses have the latest information on how to prepare themselves for Brexit, including through a targeted series of roadshows and events.The Government also has a business readiness website designed to keep businesses and consumers informed about what no deal might mean for them, with information on a range of measures that may need to be taken in order to prepare. These notices are being regularly updated with the latest information, for example BEIS have published 18 sector specific guides with the top three to six priorities per sector on GOV.UK. These guides can be easily accessed through an interactive business search tool https://www.gov.uk/get-ready-brexit-check

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions her Department has had with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on the effect on the (a) digital, (b) cultural, (c) media and (d) sport sectors of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Working Hours: EU Law

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to maintain the provisions of the Working Time Directive after the UK leaves the EU.

Kelly Tolhurst: This Government is committed to maintaining and enhancing workers’ rights after the UK leaves the EU. The Working Time Directive is transposed into UK law through the Working Time Regulations 1998. The EU (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ensures that these and other Regulations will be retained when the UK leaves the EU.

St George's Day

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of making St George's day a public holiday.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government regularly receives requests for additional bank and public holidays to commemorate a variety of occasions – such as cultural, history, military and religious events. The current pattern on public and bank holidays is well established and acknowledged within the country. The Government appreciates the importance of commemorating St George’s day. However, we do not think it is appropriate to create a new bank holiday in order to support these celebrations. There is a significant cost to business of creating additional public holidays and there are many ways that important events and occasions can be commemorated.  The estimated cost to the economy of the one-off bank holiday for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee economy was £1.2 billion.

Insulation: Fire Prevention

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether there was a requirement that any insulation installed under the now closed Green Deal Programme was of limited combustibility.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Green Deal has not been closed. The Government ended public investment in the scheme in July 2015, but it remains open for applications and any private finance providers wishing to enter the market. As with any building refurbishment, regardless of whether it is completed under the Green Deal, it is the responsibility of anyone carrying out building work to ensure compliance with the 2010 Building Regulations. Approved Document B (2006 edition incorporating 2010 and 2013 amendments) on fire safety covers, among other matters, fire spread. Local Authorities are responsible for enforcement.

Iron and Steel: Manufacturing Industries

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment she has made of the future of the UK steel industry after the UK leaves the EU.

Nadhim Zahawi: There are a number of challenges facing the steel industry globally, including demand slowing across developed economies and persistent global excess production capacity, which lowers prices and makes it difficult for UK steel companies to compete fairly. We are working to safeguard the UK from this problem through effective trade defence measures and working through the G20 to ensure action is taken on global excess capacity and on the unfair subsidies that contribute to it.   We have worked closely with UK steel producers and businesses in their supply chains to understand the potential impacts of EU Exit and support them to prepare, and will continue to do so over the coming weeks. The UK Government is also taking wide-ranging action to support the industry including compensation for energy costs, supporting innovation and clean steel production, and working with the industry to introduce steel procurement guidance.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Toys and Games: Safety

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps she is taking to remove toys that have been proven to be capable of causing serious injury or death to children from being sold to consumers via online marketplaces.

Kelly Tolhurst: I consider the issue of online sales to be a priority and recently wrote to major online platforms calling on them to take measures to ensure that dangerous products are not available through online platforms and ask what proactive measures they are taking to this end. UK legislation provides that manufacturers of toys must ensure that they comply with the essential safety requirements before the toy is placed on the market. Products which pose a serious risk to consumers are notified through the EU Rapid Alert System for dangerous non-food products (or ‘RAPEX system’). All relevant enforcement authorities have powers to take measures against products which do not meet the legal requirements. This can include, where appropriate, withdrawing the product from the market or issuing a recall. The UK has also developed its own product safety database which will be rolled out to all Local Authority Trading Standards services from September. This will give the UK national capability to collate information on unsafe and non-compliant products enabling us to identify new threats and to mount coordinated and rapid responses. OPSS is undertaking a number of projects aimed at ensuring products sold online, including through marketplaces, meet essential safety and compliance requirements. Given the complex challenges posed by online sales through a variety of business models, OPSS is undertaking a project reviewing the product safety legal framework to ensure that UK consumers remain protected from products sold via online marketplaces.

Carbon Emissions

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether any governmental targets for reducing CO2 emissions set by the Government will be legally binding.

Kwasi Kwarteng: On 27 June, the Government set a legally binding target to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide, from across the UK economy by 2050. We are the first major economy in the world to legislate for a net zero target; this world-leading target will bring to an end the UK’s contribution to climate change. In addition to the net zero target, the UK has set a number of legally binding carbon budgets in accordance with the Climate Change Act 2008. These place a legally binding cap on greenhouse gas emissions over successive 5-year periods and must be set 12 years in advance. The UK carbon budgets already set in legislation are among the most stringent in the world, requiring a 57% reduction in emissions by 2032 from a 1990 baseline.

Carbon Emissions

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether Government targets for CO2 emissions will be overseen by an independent watchdog.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) is an independent, statutory body established under the Climate Change Act 2008. The role of the CCC in providing independent, expert advice to Government on climate change mitigation and adaptation is widely accepted as global best-practice.

Fuels

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment has been made of the potential effect on the domestic fuel industry of the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and if she will make a statement.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to my hon. Friend in the time available before Prorogation.

Refineries: Brexit

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when she will publish Government analysis of the potential effect on UK refineries of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Government is engaging extensively with the fuel supply industry, as it is with other sectors, to ensure we fully understand and respond to the potential impacts of a Brexit without a withdrawal agreement on the sector. These discussions contain sensitive commercial information that the companies have provided to the Government in confidence and therefore it would not be appropriate to make this information public.

Construction: Migrant Workers

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on workforce levels in the construction industry of the £30,000 salary threshold for EU workers proposed in the immigration White Paper.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department makes regular assessments of the construction sector workforce, and over recent months, has worked closely with the Home Office to develop and refine the proposals set out in the Immigration White Paper. The Department will continue to work with the Home Office to ensure that the construction sector has access to the workforce it needs now and in the future.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings her Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Research: EU Grants and Loans

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps he is taking to ensure that researchers in the UK have access to future EU research funding framework programmes after the UK leaves the EU.

Nadhim Zahawi: The UK has a long history of being an important collaborator with and contributor to EU Framework Programmes, including the current Research and Innovation Programme, Horizon 2020. As we move beyond the current programme, the Government remains committed to creating mutually beneficial opportunities for collaboration with European and international partners. The UK has played a constructive role in the development of the next EU R&I Framework Programme, Horizon Europe, and it is our preference to associate to Horizon Europe if the conditions are right. The Programme must be fully open to third countries and represent value for money for the UK. As a responsible Government, we are also developing a credible and ambitious alternative UK offer.

Mineworkers' Pension Scheme

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if she will publish the individual benefits paid to Mineworkers' Pension Scheme members by the Government from surplus receipts.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Shipbuilding

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of women entering the UK shipbuilding industry.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Government is committed to encouraging more young people including women to consider a career in the engineering and manufacturing sector, including in shipbuilding. The Government has supported a year-long campaign to tackle the engineering skills gap and widen the pool of young people who join the profession.The 2018 Year of Engineering was a national campaign to increase awareness and understanding of engineering among young people, their parents and their teachers. The Government is committed to working with the business community to create more inclusive workplaces from the shop floor to the boardroom. The Government has commissioned and supports several business-led, independent reviews on promoting diversity, including the Hampton-Alexander Review to increase the representation of women on boards and in senior leadership positions in FTSE 350 companies to 33% by 2020 and the Parker Review to increase the ethnic diversity of FTSE 350 boards by 2024. These reviews form part of the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy which aims to build an economy that works for all.

Supermarkets

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings her Department has had with major supermarkets on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Kelly Tolhurst: This Department engages regularly with major supermarkets to understand their concerns about leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement. In particular, the Retail EU Exit Panel contains a number of major supermarkets and serves as a forum for cross Government engagement with the sector. This is in addition to individual meetings with Officials on specific EU Exit issues.

Energy: Northern Ireland

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to maintain the Single Energy Area for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement on 31 October 2019.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Single Electricity Market (SEM) is an example of North-South cooperation that has benefited the consumers and economies of Northern Ireland and Ireland. Therefore it is the Government’s position that by far the best outcome for electricity in Northern Ireland is to maintain the Single Electricity Market, including in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement. The UK will continue to work with the Irish Government to seek to ensure the Single Electricity Market will continue following Exit.

Angling: Licensing

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many fishing rod licences were provided through Post Office Ltd; and how much income has been generated from the provision of those licences in each year for which data is available.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010. While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The income generated for specific services is an operational matter for the Post Office Limited. I have therefore asked Nick Read, Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of his reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

Post Office: Income

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much income has been generated by Post Office Ltd through the provision of (a) driving licences, (b) vehicle registration, (c) excise duty collection and (d) international driving permits for each year in which information is available.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010. While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The income generated for specific services is an operational matter for the Post Office Limited. I have therefore asked Nick Read, Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of his reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

Post Offices: Passports

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much (a) gross and (b) net profit Post Office Ltd has made from the Passport Check and Send Service for each year in which data is available.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010. While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The income generated for specific services is an operational matter for the Post Office Limited. I have therefore asked Nick Read, Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of his reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

Post Office: Income

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much income was generated by Post Office Ltd through payments to HMRC through Post Office branches in each year from (a) 2004 to (b) 2019.

Kelly Tolhurst: The Government recognises the critical role that post offices play in communities and for small businesses across the UK. This is why the Government committed to safeguard the post office network and protect existing rural services. The overall number of post offices across the UK remains at its most stable in decades with over 11,500 branches thanks to significant Government investment of over £2 billion since 2010. While the Government sets the strategic direction for the Post Office, it allows the company the commercial freedom to deliver this strategy as an independent business. The income generated for specific services is an operational matter for the Post Office Limited. I have therefore asked Nick Read, Chief Executive of Post Office Limited, to write to the hon Member on this matter. A copy of his reply will be placed in the libraries of the House.

Fuels: Emergency Services

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions his Department has had with Oldham Council on the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement on the availability of fuel for emergency services.

Kwasi Kwarteng: The Government has been implementing a significant programme of work to ensure the UK will be ready to leave the European Union on 31st October in all scenarios, including in the event of a Brexit without a withdrawal agreement.Our priority is to maintain normal fuel deliveries in any of these scenarios and my officials continue to hold discussions with industry, other Government Departments and Local Resilience Fora (including Greater Manchester Resilience Forum of which Oldham Council are a member) to ensure that this objective is met.

Business: Woking

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent steps she has taken to support businesses in Woking.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

OYO

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to OYO's UK website for lettings and bookings for guest houses and bed and breakfast outlets, if she will make an assessment of the appropriateness of the business model and practices of that company.

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions she has had with (a) representatives of the hospitality company industry and (b) the Competition and Markets Authority on OYO's business model and practices.

Kelly Tolhurst: Any concerns should be raised directly with the Department, DCMS (who support the tourism industry) or the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

Fracking: Lancashire

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what independent input the Oil and Gas Authority has sought to inform their investigations concerning the pumping of liquids by Cuadrilla into their fracking site at Preston New Road in Lancashire.

Kwasi Kwarteng: In February 2019, the OGA announced it would work with recognised and independent geologists and scientists to carry out a scientific analysis of the data gathered during Cuadrilla’s operations at Preston New Road between October and December 2018. This work includes inputs from the British Geological Survey (BGS), Dr Ben Edwards, Nanometrics Inc and Outer Limits Geophysics; further information can be found on the OGA website. Additionally, during operations the OGA seeks expertise from external experts, including the BGS and from Bristol University.

Climate Change

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent assessment she has been made of the effect of preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal on her Department's climate-focused work.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Brexit

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate she has made of the number of staff in her Department who previously worked on climate change who have moved to a role to plan for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what recent discussions she has had with representatives from the UK automotive sector on potential disruption to manufacturing supply chains in the event of the UK leaving the EU without an agreement.

Nadhim Zahawi: Government is in regular dialogue with businesses, including those in the automotive supply chain, to help ensure all companies are prepared for the UK leaving the EU on the 31st October, whatever the circumstances. We are prepared for no-deal but there is more work to be done. The Chancellor has confirmed that all necessary funding will be made available to mitigate any short-term effects and to boost the potential of the UK economy. The £10m Business Readiness Fund for business organisations and trade associations will support businesses in preparing for a ‘No Deal’ Brexit ahead of 31 October 2019.

Motor Vehicles: Manufacturing Industries

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions her Department has had with (a) Nifco and (b) other organisations  which form part of the car manufacturing supply chain to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Nadhim Zahawi: Government is in regular dialogue with businesses, including those in the automotive supply chain, to help ensure all companies are prepared for the UK leaving the EU on the 31st October, whatever the circumstances. We are determined to ensure that the UK continues to be one of the most competitive locations in the world for automotive and other advanced manufacturing. We are prepared for no-deal but there is more work to be done. The Chancellor has confirmed that all necessary funding will be made available to mitigate any short-term effects and to boost the potential of the UK economy. A £10m Business Readiness Fund for business organisations and trade associations will support businesses in preparing for a ‘No Deal’ Brexit ahead of 31 October 2019.

Biofuels

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what meetings her Department has had with the bioethanol industry to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Business: Grants

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessments he has made of the implications for businesses of the Business Readiness Fund ceasing to provide grants beyond 31 October 2019.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Business: Grants

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of the Cabinet Office on extending Business Readiness Grants beyond 31 October 2019.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Business Readiness Fund is a scheme set up to fund Business Representative Organisations to prepare businesses for leaving the EU on 31st October. Ministers meet regularly with ministerial colleagues to consider what further support can be given to business before and after 31st October.

Energy: Meters

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many energy smart meters in the UK are currently operating in dumb mode.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Climate Change

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether her Department plans to implement the recommendation of the Committee on Climate Change to meet the net zero emissions target without the use of international offsets.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Climate Change

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has for a UK-wide high profile publicity campaign to raise awareness of the climate emergency.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Nuclear Power Stations: Construction

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether it is her Department's policy to develop new nuclear power stations.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Plastics: Waste

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much of the Plastics and Waste Investment Fund has been allocated to date; and which programmes have received money from that fund.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fuels: Prices

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on fuel prices of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Kwasi Kwarteng: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Aircraft: Electric Motors

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how much funding was allocated to research into electric aviation in the last five years.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Packaging: Recycling

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps her Department is taking to strengthen links between manufacturers of packaging and recycling mills to ensure more packaging can be returned and reused.

Nadhim Zahawi: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Welfare Assistance Schemes: Finance

Suella Braverman: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding allocated to local councils for the provision of (a) support and (b) advice to families and young people in a financial crisis.

Luke Hall: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Welfare Assistance Schemes

Ms Lisa Forbes: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to protect Local Welfare Assistance schemes in England.

Luke Hall: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Debts

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that families and young people have access to the help they need when faced with a financial crisis.

Luke Hall: Holding answer received on 22 July 2019



It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Building Regulations

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to research by the Local Government Association showing that prosecutions under building regulations have fallen by approximately 75 per cent in the last 10 years what plans he has (a) to increase sanctions and penalties for non-compliance with building regulations and (b) to ensure that local authorities are awarded full costs for such cases.

Esther McVey: The ability to prosecute is an important part of the building safety regime, though regulators also intervene in other ways. Section 35 of the Building Act 1984 enables a local authority to prosecute where work is done in breach of the Building Regulations, with a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine, while section 36 enables a local authority to require building owners to correct work that does not comply. Prosecutions must be brought within two years of the completion of non-compliant building work, while requirements to correct work must be made within twelve months.Dame Judith Hackitt’s Independent Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety identified the need to strengthen the sanctions and enforcement regime and the Government has accepted this recommendation. That is why we are consulting on a package of measures to overhaul the system, including setting up a single building safety regulator with stronger sanctions and enforcement powers. Our consultation document “Building a Safer Future”, published on 6 June, contains proposals to strengthen sanctions and enforcement, including changes to sections 35 and 36 of the Building Act and to make it easier for the regulator to intervene to ensure resident safety at key points in the life-cycle of high-risk buildings. We are working with existing regulators to explore the opportunities for maximising cost recovery as an option for funding tougher regulatory activity on higher-risk buildings in scope of the new regime. The consultation closed on 31 July and the Government has committed to bringing forward legislation to implement reforms as early as practicable.

Private Rented Housing: Pensioners

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of the 22 July 2019 to Question 278349 on Private Rented Housing: Pensioners, what assessment his Department has made of trends in the level of landlords that allow older renters to make modifications to their rented property to accommodate for mobility issues.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sleeping Rough

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to meet the target to end rough-sleeping by 2027.

Luke Hall: No one should ever have to sleep rough. That is why this Government committed to halve rough sleeping by 2022 and then eliminate it altogether by 2027. Last summer we published the cross-government Rough Sleeping Strategy, set out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Government has now committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period.As part of this, the Rough Sleeping Initiative has delivered over 1,750 new bed spaces as well as enabling the areas with the highest levels of rough sleeping to hire more than 500 new staff to focus solely on this issue. The Rapid Rehousing Pathway provides local areas with support to deliver ‘Somewhere Safe to Stay’ hubs, specialist navigators, local lettings agencies and supported lettings. Figures from the Official 2018 Rough Sleeping Snapshot show that the number of people sleeping on our streets on one night in 2018 was 2 per cent lower compared to the previous year.

Religious Hatred: Islam

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if the Government will take steps to adopt the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims' definition of Islamophobia.

Luke Hall: The Government is committed to defining and tackling anti-Muslim hatred. We have appointed Imam Qari Asim MBE, Deputy Chair of the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, to lead a process for establishing a definition jointly with further advisers to be confirmed in due course.This new work will draw on a wide range of opinions and work in collaboration with the cross-government Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, to ensure that it commands broad support within Muslim communities and wider society.

Affordable Housing: Construction

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to row one of Resource DEL – Communities on p12 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish all details of the budgeted expenditure under SO1 – Building Affordable Homes.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to row four of Resource DEL – Communities on p13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish all details of the budgeted expenditure under SO5 – Grenfell Recovery.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Section B – Housing and Planning of Resource DEL – Communities on p13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish all details of the budgeted expenditure under SO1 – Building Affordable Homes.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Section B – Housing and Planning of Resource DEL – Communities on p13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish all details of the budgeted expenditure under SO1 – Infrastructure for Housing.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Section B – Housing and Planning of Resource DEL – Communities on p13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish all details of the budgeted expenditure under SO1 – market diversification.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Section B – Housing and Planning of Resource DEL – Communities on p13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish all details of the budgeted expenditure under SO1 – More land in right places.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Section B – Housing and Planning of Resource DEL – Communities on p13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish all details of the budgeted expenditure under SO1 – Planning reform.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Section B – Housing and Planning of Resource DEL – Communities on p13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish all details of the budgeted expenditure under SO1 – Public Land.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, Section B – Housing and Planning’ of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO2 – Homelessness.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, Section B – Housing and Planning’ of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO2 – Leasehold Reform.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, Section B – Housing and Planning’ of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO2 – Reform of the private rental sector.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government,with reference to page 13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, Section B – Housing and Planning’ of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO2 – Rough sleeping.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, Section B – Housing and Planning of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO2 – Social Housing Green Paper.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, Section B – Housing and Planning of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO2 – Supported Housing.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, Section B – Housing and Planning of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO2 – VRTB: PILOT.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government,with reference to page 13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, Section B – Housing and Planning’ of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO5 – Building Safety.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, Section B – Housing and Planning’ of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading Other – Admin including depreciation.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 13 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, Section C – Decentralisation and Local Growth, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO1 – Infrastructure for Housing.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 14 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, I - Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net)’ of Resource DEL, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO1 – Building more affordable homes.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 14 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, I - Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net)’ of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO1 – Help to Buy.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 19 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, I - Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net) of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO1 – Infrastructure for Housing.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 19 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, I - Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net)’ of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO1 – Market Diversification.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 19 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, I - Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net) of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO1 – More land in the right places.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 19 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, I - Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net)’ of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO1 – Public Sector Land.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 19 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, I - Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net) of Resource DEL – Communities, if he will publish details of the budgeted expenditure under the heading SO2 – Supported Housing.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 19 of the MHCLG Main Estimate 2019-2020, Estimates Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1 – Building Affordable Homes.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 19 of the MHCLG Main Estimate 2019-20: Estimates Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1 – Help to Buy.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 20 of the MHCLG Main Estimate 2019-20: Estimates Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1 – Market Diversification.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 20 of the MHCLG Main Estimates 2019-20: Estimates Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1 – More land in the right places.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Resource AME on page 24 of the MHCLG Main Estimate 2019-20: Estimates Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under row two M – Housing and Planning.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Resource AME on page 24 of the MHCLG Main Estimate 2019-20: Estimates Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under row three O – Research, Data and Trading Funds.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Resource AME on page 24 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under row five P MHCLG Staff, Building and Infrastructure Costs.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Resource AME on page 24 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under row six, Q Non-Domestic Rates Outturn Adjustments.

Thelma Walker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Resource AME on page 24 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under row eight, H Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net).

Jake Berry: The information provided below gives details of spending areas under each Strategic Objective as a whole, rather than broken down across Estimate Row. In the Main Estimate Explanatory Memorandum, Strategic Objectives are split across the Department’s Estimate Rows meaning that some Strategic Objectives appear under more than one Estimate Row.The Department uses Strategic Objectives to allocate out budgets, monitor spend and delivery and report publicly. Under each Strategic Objective are a number of programmes which are made up of a number of Work Areas.The Department’s budgets for both Programmes and the Work Areas that sit underneath each Programme, are kept under regular review and are revised where necessary to reflect changes in the operating environment. As such, the Department has not provided a further details of budget expenditure for each Work Area as budgets and structure may change during the year.The Department notes that the level of budgeted expenditure detail provided in the Main Estimate Explanatory Memorandum is in line with guidance issued by the Scrutiny Unit.Updated budgets for each Programme will be provided at the Supplementary Estimate later in the year. Expenditure under the Strategic Objectives (SO), Programme and Work Area for Resource DEL budgets are as follows; UINStrategic ObjectiveProgrammeWork Area282187 282189 282205 282206SO1Building Affordable HomesLondon Settlement, New Homes Bonus, PFI Special Grant Housing, Valuation Office Agency, Right to Buy Charges, Right to Buy Agents, Affordable Homes Programme282188SO5Grenfell RecoveryGrenfell Rehousing, Grenfell Memorial Commission, Grenfell Autumn Budget 2017 Commitments, MHCLG Public Enquiry Team, Grenfell Tower Site Management282190 282204SO1Infrastructure for HousingDevelopment Corporations, Housing Deals, Housing Deals: Oxford Cambridge Corridor (Ox Cam Arc)282191SO1Market DiversificationPlanning Inspectorate, Right to Build, Community Housing Fund282192SO1More land in the right placesLand Assembly Fund282193SO1Planning ReformCommunity Infrastructure Levy Planning Advisory, Neighbourhood Planning: New Burden, Neighbourhood Planning: Supporting Communities, Local Plans Intervention, Planning Delivery Fund, Great Crested Newts282194SO1Public Sector LandLA land review new burdens282195SO2HomelessnessPreventing Homelessness, Flexible Homelessness Support Grant282196SO2Leasehold ReformPrivate Rented Sector New Burdens, Leasehold Reform282197SO2Reform of the private rental sectorRent Officer Services and Pensions Liabilities, Tenant Empowerment, Smoke & Co Alarms, Estate Agents Regulation, Private Rented Sector Tribunal Costs282198SO2Rough SleepingRough Sleeping Initiative282199SO2Social Housing Green PaperDomestic Abuse282200SO2Supported HousingNational Body for Home Improvement Agencies (Foundations)282201SO2VRTB: PilotRight to Buy Pilot282202SO5Building SafetyTechnical Policy, Energy Safe Materials, Remediation, Strategy, Responsible Industry and Residents Voice, Regulator and Accountability282203Other Admin including depreciationPlanning Inspectorate Admin Expenditure under the Strategic Objectives (SO), Programme and Work Area for Capital DEL budgets are as follows; UINStrategic ObjectiveProgrammeWork Area282587SO1Building Affordable HomesLondon Settlement, Affordable Homes Programme, Brent Cross, Capital Running Costs282579SO1Infrastructure for HousingInfrastructure to Support Housing, Housing Deals: Greater Manchester, Housing Deals: West Midlands, Oxford-Cambridge Corridor (Ox Cam Arc), Ebbsfleet Development Corp, Housing Infrastructure Fund282580 282589SO1Market DiversificationPlanning Inspectorate, Community Housing Fund, Housing Supply: Legacy (Get Britain Building, Local Infrastructure Fund, Custom Build), Housing Supply: Build to Rent, Housing Supply: Estate Regeneration, Home Building Fund: Short Term Investment, Home Building Fund: Long Term Investment, The Commission for Local Administration in England, Valuation Tribunal Service, The Housing Ombudsman, Private Rented Sector Guarantee282582 282590SO1More land in the right placesCity Deals: Preston City Deal, City Deals: Birmingham City Deal, City Deals: Manchester City Deal, Land Assembly Fund, Small Sites Fund, Accelerated Construction, City Deals Telford, Direct Commission Fund, LA Land Release Fund, Barking282588SO1Help to BuyHousing Supply282584SO1Public Sector LandSingle Land Programme282585SO2Supported HousingThe Regulator of Social Housing  Expenditure under the Strategic Objectives (SO), Programme and Work Area for Resource AME budgets are as follows; UINStrategic ObjectiveProgrammeWork Area282591MHousing & Planning AMEPlanning Inspectorate282594PMHCLG Staff, Building and Infrastructure Costs AMECentral Admin282595QNon-Domestic Rates Outturn Adjustments AMENon-Domestic Rates Outturn Adjustments282596HHousing & Planning (ALB)(Net) AMEHomes England, Housing Supply: Legacy (Get Britain Building, Local Infrastructure Fund, Custom Build), The Housing Ombudsman, Housing Supply: Help To Buy, Ebbsfleet Development Corp, Single Land Programme, The Regulator of Social Housing282593OResearch, Data and Trading Funds AMEEuropean Development Fund Losses and Write - Offs

Sikhs

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will publish all (a) research and (b) reports his Department has commissioned and requested on (i) the Sikh community and (ii) Sikh groups and organisations in each of the last three years.

Luke Hall: The Department has not produced any specific research or reports on the Sikh community, including Sikh groups and organisations, in any of the last three years.

Local Government Pension Scheme

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the effect of the proposed changes to the local government pension scheme on the pensions of long standing members of that scheme.

Luke Hall: The proposals contained in the consultation document issued on 8 May, entitled "Changes to the local valuation cycle and management of employer risk", are intended to help funds to better manage employer risk and liabilities, and to ensure that employer contributions are set at an appropriate level. These objectives are consonant with the interests of all scheme members and would not affect the pension benefits which are due to existing members of the scheme The consultation closed on 31 July and we have received a large number of responses, from the perspective of both scheme employers and scheme members. It is right that we take time to consider the representations made and a formal response will be issued in due course.

Land

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to Row I on page 14 of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish a detailed breakdown of each of the two lines of budgeted expenditure under SO1- More land in the right places.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 14, I-Housing & Planning (ALB) (Net) of Resource DEL - Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1- Market Diversification.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 14, I-Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net)' of Resource DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1- Infrastructure for Housing.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, B- Housing and Planning of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under S02 - Social Housing Green Paper.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, B- Housing and Planning' of Capital DEL- Communities, of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish a details of budgeted expenditure under S04 - Adult Social Care.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to  page 18 B- Housing and Planning of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO5 - Building Safety.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18 B- Housing and Planning' of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO2 - Homelessness.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18 B- Housing and Planning' of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO2 - Leasehold reform.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, Housing and Planning of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO2 - Rough sleeping.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, B- Housing and Planning of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO2 - Homelessness.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, B- Housing and Planning of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1- Market Diversification.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, A- Local Government and Public Services' of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO5 - Grenfell Recovery.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, B- Housing and Planning of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1 - Building Affordable Homes.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, B- Housing and Planning of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1 - Infrastructure for Housing.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, B- Housing and Planning of Capital DEL - Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1 - More land in the right places.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, B - Housing and Planning' of Capital DEL - Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 memorandum, if he will publish details budgeted expenditure under SO1 - Public Sector Land.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 14, I - Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net)' of Resource DEL - Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SOl - Public Sector Land.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 14, I - Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net)' of Resource DEL - Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under Other - Ad min including depreciation.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18, A- Local Government and Public Services' of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under SO1- Building Affordable Homes.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 18,C- Decentralisation and Growth of Capital DEL- Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under S01- Infrastructure for Housing.

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to page 19, I - Housing & Planning (ALB)(Net) of Capital DEL - Communities of his Department's Main Estimates 2019-20 Memorandum, if he will publish details of budgeted expenditure under S01- Building Affordable Homes.

Jake Berry: The information provided below gives details of spending areas under each Strategic Objective as a whole, rather than broken down across Estimate Row. In the Main Estimate Explanatory Memorandum, Strategic Objectives are split across the Department’s Estimate Rows meaning that some Strategic Objectives appear under more than one Estimate Row.The Department uses Strategic Objectives to allocate out budgets, monitor spend and delivery and report publicly. Under each Strategic Objective are a number of programmes which are made up of a number of Work Areas.The Department’s budgets for both Programmes and the Work Areas that sit underneath each Programme, are kept under regular review and are revised where necessary to reflect changes in the operating environment. As such, the Department has not provided a further details of budget expenditure for each Work Area as budgets and structure may change during the year.The Department notes that the level of budgeted expenditure detail provided in the Main Estimate Explanatory Memorandum is in line with guidance issued by the Scrutiny Unit.Updated budgets for each Programme will be provided at the Supplementary Estimate later in the year. Expenditure under the Strategic Objectives (SO), Programme and Work Area for Resource DEL budgets are as follows; UINStrategic ObjectiveProgrammeWork Area284201SO1Infrastructure for HousingEbbsfleet Development Corporation, Housing Infrastructure Fund284199SO1Market DiversificationCommunity Housing Fund, Housing Supply: Legacy (Get Britain Building, Local Infrastructure Fund, Custom Build), Housing Supply: Build to Rent, Housing Supply: Estate Regeneration, Home Building Fund: Short Term Investment, Home Building Fund: Long Term Investment284311SO1Public Sector LandSingle Land Programme284314OtherAdmin including depreciationHomes England Admin, Leasehold Advisory Services Admin, Homes England Receipts, The Housing Ombudsman Admin, Ebbsfleet Development Corporation Admin, The Regulator of Social Housing Admin Expenditure under the Strategic Objectives (SO), Programme and Work Area for Capital DEL budgets are as follows; UINStrategic ObjectiveProgrammeWork Area284300 284316 284327SO1Building Affordable HomesLondon Settlement, Affordable Homes Programme, Brent Cross, Capital Running Costs, Affordable Homes Guarantee, Right to Buy284303 284321SO1Infrastructure for HousingInfrastructure to Support Housing, Housing Deals: Greater Manchester, Housing Deals: West Midlands, Oxford-Cambridge Corridor (Ox Cam Arc), Housing Infrastructure Fund, Bicester284293SO1Market DiversificationPlanning Inspectorate, Community Housing Fund284306SO1More land in the right placesLand Assembly Fund, Small Sites Fund, Accelerated Construction, LA Land Release Fund, Barking284309SO1Public Sector LandPublic Sector Land284269SO2Social Housing Green PaperDomestic Abuse284278SO2Leasehold ReformLeasehold Reform284274 284287SO2HomelessnessPreventing Homelessness, Move On Fund, Flexible Homelessness Support Grant284284SO2Rough SleepingRough Sleeping Strategy284271SO4Adult Social CareDisabled Facilities Grant284272SO5Building Safety Technical Policy, Energy Safe Materials, Cladding Remediation, Review of Building Regulations and Fire Safety284298SO5Grenfell RecoveryGrenfell Autumn Budget 2017 Commitments, Grenfell Tower Site Management

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Jake Berry: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Parking: Codes of Practice

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, what the next steps are in developing the code of practice.

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2019 to Question 266812 on Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, what the timeframe is for the (a) development and (b) implementation of the code of practice.

Luke Hall: The Government is committed to developing and implementing the Code of Practice as soon as possible. We are currently considering the options for the delivery of the Code and the design of the levy on industry, as well as the format for stakeholder engagement. We will make an announcement in due course. We are also committed to carrying out a public consultation on the draft Code of Practice, allowing all interested parties to directly respond to the proposals.

Codes of Practice: Parking

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2019 to Question 266813 on Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, what options are being considered for the format of the stakeholder engagement during the development of the code of practice.

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2019 to Question 266812 on Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019, what opportunities for public consultation there will be as part of the development of the code of practice.

Luke Hall: Consistent with the requirement of the Act that the Code of Practice be developed in consultation with stakeholders, we are currently considering the format for stakeholder engagement and will make an announcement in due course. We are also committed to carrying out a public consultation on the draft Code of Practice as part of the development process, allowing all interested parties to directly respond to the proposals.

Social Rented Housing: Construction

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will commit to building 100,000 homes for social rent per year.

Esther McVey: We are committed to increasing the supply of social housing to further support struggling families and those at risk of homelessness. We have invested over £9 billion into our Affordable Homes Programme to deliver approximately 250,000 affordable homes by 2022, including at least 12,500 for social rent in areas of acute affordability pressure.We have increased the size of the Affordable Homes Programme, re-introduced social rent, removed the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) borrowing cap for local authorities, and have set out a long-term rent deal for councils and housing associations in England from 2020. Housing associations and local authorities now need to accelerate delivery and build more affordable homes.Since 2010, we have delivered over 430,000 new affordable homes, including over 308,000 affordable homes for rent.On 18 September we announced an additional £2 billion of long-term funding certainty for housing associations. This extra funding will deliver more affordable homes and stimulate the sector’s wider building ambitions, through strategic partnerships.We do not publish yearly targets but, deliver flexibly throughout the years of the programme to achieve our overall target and hold Homes England and the Greater London Authority (GLA) to account for delivery.We will continue to provide opportunities for more people to afford home ownership and seek to build on the progress that has been made on building new social homes.

Microgeneration: Housing

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential for electricity and heat microgeneration technologies to be incorporated into new-build homes.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Housing: Construction

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which local authorities have been subject to Government sanctions for failing to allocate sufficient housing sites.

Esther McVey: The Government is clear that in order to help make home ownership affordable for more people, we need to deliver more homes. We introduced a set of planning reforms in the revised National Planning Policy Framework to help towards achieving this ambition. One such measure is the Housing Delivery Test, which shows where the housing needs of communities are and are not being met. The 2018 results show that local authorities are rising to the challenge with over two thirds of authorities delivering the numbers of homes their communities need.

Welfare Assistance Schemes

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will take steps to help ensure that local authorities provide funding for local welfare assistance schemes after 2020.

Luke Hall: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Jake Berry: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Leasehold: Reform

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to implement the leasehold reforms referred to by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government in her oral contribution of 11 July 2019, Official report, column 552.

Esther McVey: The Government is committed to reforming the leasehold market so that it is fairer for consumers. This includes banning new leasehold houses, unless there are exceptional circumstances, and reducing ground rents for both houses and flats to zero We will also give freeholders on private and mixed-tenure estates the right to challenge the reasonableness of these charges and the ability to apply to the First-tier Tribunal to appoint a new property manager The Government will bring forward the legislation to implement these changes as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Weather

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what (a) financial and (b) staffing assistance the Government has provided to local authorities responding to extreme weather events in the last 12 months.

Jake Berry: On 10 August, the Government announced that local communities and businesses impacted by the previous week’s heavy rain and flooding will have access to up to £5.25 million to support their recovery.Over the last 12 months my Department has made payments totalling £418,579 to four local authorities to assist them in responding to severe weather incidents. This includes £150,000 that my Department provided to High Peak Borough Council to support the community following the Toddbrook Reservoir incident.Recently, my Department also announced Bellwin support towards response costs for authorities in North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in respect of flooding in those areas over the summer and for High Peaks Council with respect to the Toddbrook Reservoir incident. We await their claims.In all the above cases, no additional staffing assistance was provided.The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is unable to provide details about what financial and staffing assistance was provided by other departments to local authorities in response to those severe weather incidents.

Hate Crime: Sikhs

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2019 to Question 277247 on Hate Crime: Sikhs, what funding the Government has allocated to help increase the reporting of hate crimes by the Sikh community in each of the last five years.

Luke Hall: Holding answer received on 05 September 2019



I refer the Honourable Member to the previous answer I gave to the question UIN 282566 on 3 September 2019:Pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2019 to Question 277247, my Department has allocated £250,000 in total over 2016/17 and 2018/19 to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). £150,000 of this was to support work encouraging reporting from groups who are less likely to report hate crime. These groups included EU citizens, Hindus, Christians, and the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, as well as SikhsIn February, my Department organised a hate crime workshop for representatives from the Sikh community with contributions from across government, the police and criminal justice system. Outcomes included further engagement between the Sikh community and organisations including the NPCC, Crown Prosecution Service, Metropolitan Police and Department for EducationMy Department and the NPCC continue to work with the Sikh community and other groups who are less likely to report to raise awareness of hate crime and encourage reporting. This work forms part of our commitment to tackling faith and race based hate crime made in the refreshed Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan.

Antisemitism

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding has been allocated to help increase the reporting of hate crimes by the Jewish community in each of the last five years.

Luke Hall: Holding answer received on 05 September 2019



We have allocated £250,000 in total over 2016/17 and 2018/19 to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). £150,000 of this was to support work encouraging reporting from groups who are less likely to report hate crime. These groups included EU citizens and faith groups. These projects, alongside the Cross-Government Working Group on Tackling Antisemitism, are important partners in helping us to understand how to improve rates of reporting within the Jewish community. To supply the information outside of these funding streams for the previous five years would involve a disproportionate cost to my Department.

Hate Crime: Muslims

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding has been allocated to help increase the reporting of hate crimes by the Muslim community in each of the last five years.

Luke Hall: Holding answer received on 05 September 2019



We have allocated £250,000 in total over 2016/17 and 2018/19 to the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). £150,000 of this was to support encouraging reporting from groups who are less likely to report hate crime. These groups included EU citizens and faith groups. Home Office data from 2017/18 shows that 52 per cent of religiously motivated hate crime was perpetrated against Muslims. In addition to the NPCC funding, the government is providing over £2.5 million to Tell MAMA, a hate crime reporting and victim support organisation. Whilst Tell MAMA predominantly supports Muslims or those targeted for being perceived to be Muslim, for example Sikhs, all communities are able to report hate crimes to Tell MAMA. To supply the information outside of these funding streams for the previous five years would involve a disproportionate cost to my Department.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what meetings his Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Luke Hall: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Homelessness: Young People

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to tackle homelessness among young people.

Luke Hall: The Government is committed to reducing homelessness and rough sleeping. That is why we introduced the Homelessness Reduction Act, the most ambitious reform to homelessness legislation in decades. The Act  ensures that there are more opportunities to prevent or relieve homelessness including for young people.Last summer we published the Rough Sleeping Strategy. This sets out an ambitious £100 million package to help people who sleep rough now, but also puts in place the structures that will end rough sleeping once and for all. The Strategy included a commitment to develop the Young Futures Fund a social impact bond programme aimed at supporting vulnerable young people who are homeless or rough sleeping. This will build on the success of the Fair Chance Fund (2015-2017), which supported over 1,900 homeless young people to improve their accommodation, employment and education outcomes.We have also established the Homelessness Advice and Support Team, which includes dedicated youth homelessness advisors that work with local authorities to promote joint working across housing authorities and children’s services, offering training, advice and support to all local authorities. Last year we also updated the provisions for 16-17-year olds who are homeless or require accommodation, setting out the respective duties of children’s services and housing services.

Sleeping Rough

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authority applicants there have been to the Rough Sleeping Initiative Fund 2018-19 since March 2018; how much money has been awarded from that fund; and what the average amount was that was awarded to applicants.

Luke Hall: 83 local authorities were awarded funds from the Rough Sleeping Initiative in 2018/19, to a total of £29,971,544. Funds were allocated to the 83 areas with the highest numbers of rough sleepers as recorded in the 2017 annual rough sleeping statistics.The average value awarded was £361,103.

Sleeping Rough

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authority applicants there have been to the Rough Sleeping Initiative Fund 2019-20 since March 2018; how much money has been awarded from that fund; and what the average amount was awarded to applicants.

Luke Hall: In 2019/20, a total of £46,062,746 has been awarded to 246 local authorities. Of this, £33,941,031 was allocated to the 83 areas that had already received funding in 2018/19, and an additional £12,121,715 was awarded to a further 163 areas that had not been previously funded.An application process was carried out for the new areas; all applications were successful. The average value awarded to Rough Sleeping Initiative funded areas in 2019/20 was £187,246.93.

Sleeping Rough

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authority applicants there have been to the Rapid rehousing Pathway Early Adopters Funding since October 2018; how much money has been awarded from that fund; and what the average amount was that was awarded to applicants.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authority applicants there have been to the Rapid Rehousing Pathway Early Adopters Fund 2018-19 since October 2018; how much money has been awarded from that fund; and what the average amount was that was awarded to applicants.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authority applicants there have been to the Rapid Rehousing Pathway Early Adopters Fund 2019-20 since October 2018; how much money has been awarded from that fund; and what the average amount was that was awarded to applicants.

Luke Hall: Between October 2018 and March 2019 local authorities were invited to bid for funding for one or more of the Rapid Rehousing Pathway interventions, for their area.53 ‘early adopters’ of the Rapid Rehousing Pathway were announced between December 2018 and February 2019, backed by £16 million of funding. This included 11 Somewhere Safe to Stay hubs across the country, which have been operational since the spring, helping to provide rapid support to rough sleepers and those at risk.As part of the Rapid Rehousing Pathway 2019/20 round, in May 2019 we announced funding of £25 million for a further 108 areas, across all four elements of the Rapid Rehousing Pathway. This included funding for an additional 20 Somewhere Safe to Stay hubs.In total, and accounting for overlap between the two funding rounds, between December 2018 and May 2019 we announced 137 Rapid Rehousing Pathway areas, backed by £41 million of funding. This, therefore, represents an average award to local authorities of approximately £300,000.

Private Rented Housing

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authority applicants there have been to the Private Rented Sector Access Fund since November 2018; how much money has been awarded from that fund; and what the average amount was that was awarded to applicants.

Esther McVey: Bidding for the Private Renting Sector Access Fund closed on 30 November 2018, and we received 163 bids from 160 local authorities across the country.On 1 March we announced the allocation of £19.5 million to directly support 66 local authorities under this fund with an average award of £361,903.This fund is just one of a range of housing support measures that the Government has put in place:In September 2017 the Government announced the Homelessness Advice and Support Team (HAST), a team of expert advisers that provides support and assistance to improve homelessness services.Government is funding the £40 million London Collaboration Project, which aims at increasing collaboration between London boroughs in the procurement of temporary accommodation for households at risk of homelessness, this will be delivered through the creation of the local government owned company, Capital Letters.The Flexible Homelessness Support Grant has allocated £617 million to local authorities over 3 years from 2017/18 to 2019/20, giving them more control and flexibility in managing homelessness pressures.We have provided £72.7 million in new burdens funding for local authorities to implement the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.The Homelessness Reduction Act, the most ambitious reform to homelessness legislation in decades, came into force on 3 April 2018.

Homelessness

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many funding streams available to local authorities to tackle homelessness have been created by his Department since 2010.

Luke Hall: Tackling homelessness is a priority for this Government. We are already undertaking a significant programme of work, backed by £1.2 billion in funding, to tackle homelessness. This includes supporting local authorities with implementing the landmark Homelessness Reduction Act and increasing access to the private rented sector for families in temporary accommodation.The Government has created over 20 funding streams since 2010 focused on reducing homelessness and rough sleeping.

Sleeping Rough

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether local authorities are able to apply for funding from the (a) Rough Sleeping Initiative Funds, (b) Rapid rehousing Pathway Early Adopters Funding, (c) Rapid Rehousing Pathway Funding 2018-19, (d) Private Rented Sector Access Fund, (e) Cold Weather Fund and (f) Rapid Rehousing Pathway Funding 2019-20.

Luke Hall: The Government has committed over £1.2 billion to tackle homelessness and rough sleeping over the spending review period to 2019-20. The rough sleeping and homelessness programmes referenced have closed for new applications. They are delivering projects to end rough sleeping and reduce homelessness right across the country.The Government announced on 4 September that it would provide a further £422 million to tackle rough sleeping and homelessness in 2020-21, in addition to the funding local authorities receive through the Local Government Finance settlement, an increase of 13 per cent in real terms. Further details on future funds will be announced in due course.

Energy: Building Regulations

Stephen Kerr: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the July 2019 report of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy select committee on Energy efficiency: building towards net zero, what plans she has to bring forward proposals on the efficiency of new buildings.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Regulator of Social Housing: Public Appointments

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2018 to Question 192956 on Regulator of Social Housing: Public Appointments, at what stage is the recruitment process for the permanent Chair of the Regulator of Social Housing.

Esther McVey: The then Housing Minister decided not to appoint a new permanent Chair of the Board of the Regulator of Social Housing. The Minister considered the Advisory Assessment Panel’s recommendations carefully, but in light of the narrow field of candidates, he decided to refresh the specification for the role so as to attract the best possible candidates in a future campaign. The Minister also decided to extend the appointment of the current Interim Chair for a further 12 months.

Regulator of Social Housing: Public Appointments

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2019 to Question 234662 on Regulator of Social Housing: Public Appointments, whether any new Board members have been appointed.

Esther McVey: Josephine Boaden CBE and Deborah Gregory have been appointed to the Board of the Regulator of Social Housing.

Regulator of Social Housing

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2019 to Question 249189 on Regulator of Social Housing, how many respondents to the consultation on the Social Housing Green Paper in 2018 (a) supported and (b) rejected the proposal to consider removing the serious detriment test used to determine compliance with the Home Standard if it is a bar to more proactive approach by the Regulator of Social Housing.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Housing Ombudsman Service

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the average length of time was for the Housing Ombudsman Service to determine case complaints in the first three months of 2019-20; and how many complaints were dealt with within the six month target during that period.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Housing Ombudsman Service: Public Appointments

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many applicants were interviewed for the post of Housing Ombudsman.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Brexit

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what meetings his Department has had with Leeds City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Luke Hall: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Members: Correspondence

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, when he plans to reply to the letter dated 5 April 2019 from the hon. Member for West Lancashire on the adequacy of amenities in Skelmersdale.

Luke Hall: I have responded to the Hon Member's letter. I have asked my office to email you a copy of the response.

Landlords: Registration

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment has he made of the potential merits of introducing a national landlord register for the private rented sector in England.

Esther McVey: The Government has no current plans to introduce a national landlord register, which could place an additional regulatory burden on landlords. The case would need to be made that such a register would drive up standards in the private rented sector. The Government is instead committed to improving the private rented sector by driving out criminal landlords and landlords who consistently neglect their responsibilities to provide safe and decent accommodation.Local authorities already have a wide range of powers available to them including banning orders for the very worst offenders, civil penalties of up to £30,000 and a database of rogue landlords and property agents targeted at persistent and criminal offenders. To support the powers that local authorities already have we have provided £2.3 million in grant funding for local authorities to develop self-sustaining enforcement, released refreshed guidance for landlords, tenants and local authorities on their rights and responsibilities and carried out a review of selective licensing.

Landlords: Registration

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of landlord registers operating in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Religious Hatred: Islam

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the recent increase in Islamophobic hate crimes; and if he will make a statement.

Luke Hall: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2019 to Question 217589 on Buildings: Insulation, whether the bespoke testing programme on non-aluminium composite materials commissioned by his Department has included tests of zinc composite material cladding with a non-fire retardant core.

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant the Answer of 11 February 2019 to Question 217589 on Buildings: Insulation, whether the bespoke testing programme on non-aluminium composite materials commissioned by his Department has included tests on copper composite material cladding with a non-fire retardant core.

Esther McVey: The zinc and copper composite material panels, of various thicknesses, tested in the bespoke medium scale testing programme all achieve European Class B-s1,d0 according to the manufacturer’s information.Our contractor was not able to source materials achieving higher or lower classification from the open market. It was decided to test panels available on the open market, rather than commissioning the production of specific panels as these are representative of the current market, and to avoid additional delays. BRE is currently analysing the results from the tests carried out. The results from the zinc and copper panels will be compared to those from ACM panels, and we will consider the need for the production of other panels depending on the findings.We expect to be able to publish research findings in the autumn.

Buildings: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant the Answer of 11 February 2019 to Question 217589 on Buildings: Insulation, whether the bespoke testing programme on non-aluminium composite materials commissioned by his Department has included tests on standard grade D-class High Pressure Laminate cladding.

Esther McVey: The Department has commissioned the Building Research Establishment to undertake bespoke medium scale tests on Class C or D High Pressure Laminate panels as part of the ongoing Non-Aluminium Composite Material research. We expect to be able to publish research findings in the autumn.

High Rise Flats: Insulation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, for what reasons his Department has not issued a call for samples of building materials used in (a) external wall materials and (b) insulation of high rise buildings as part of the data collection exercise on external wall systems in high-rise residential buildings that his Department has asked local authorities to undertake.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fire Prevention

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on fire safety.

Esther McVey: This Government is committed to making sure that high-rise buildings are safe, and that residents feel safe in them, now and in the future. On 5 September, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced a series of measures to drive progress, including: £10 million per year to fund tailored building checks and inspections on all high risk residential buildings in England by 2021; a consultation on changes to the Building Regulations guidance on fire safety, primarily lowering the height threshold for sprinklers; and confirmation that the private sector remediation fund will open on 12 September, to fund the removal of Aluminium Composite Material cladding from eligible buildings in the private residential sector.Our consultation, Building a Safer Future: proposals for reform of the building safety regulatory system closed on Wednesday 31 July 2019. We are now analysing the responses and will respond by the end of this year. We will then introduce legislation at the earliest opportunity, when parliamentary time allows.

Citizens' Advice Bureaux: Finance

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will increase the level of funding for citizens advice centres in (a) Woking and (b) the UK.

Luke Hall: Local authorities are free to spend non-ringfenced funding provided by central government as they see fit to meet local priorities, including citizens advice centres, and are accountable to their local electorate for their spending. We do not provide direct funding for local citizens advice centres.Next year’s settlement for local government will respond to the pressures councils are facing by providing access to the largest increase in Core Spending Power (CSP) since 2015. CSP is expected to rise from £46.2 billion to £49.1 billion in 2020-21, an estimated increase of 4.3 per cent in real terms.

Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre

Sir Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will name the organisations outside Government providing (a) public relations or engagement, (b) public affairs and (c) planning services in respect of the proposed Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre; and how much is being paid from the public purse to each organisation.

Luke Hall: It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Housing Associations: Accountability

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to strengthen the mechanisms by which housing associations that provide inadequate maintenance and repair services are held to account.

Esther McVey: Nothing is more important than ensuring people are safe in their homes. Residents’ voices need to be heard to ensure proper standards are maintained and that where things are going wrong they are picked up and addressed. We want to ensure that there is a coherent and consistent approach to regulation to deliver these objectives, and achieve the best deal for tenants and landlords. Our review of social housing regulation is exploring the most appropriate way of doing so, and we will publish the results of that review in due course.

Unitary Councils

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing unitary authorities throughout England.

Luke Hall: On 22 July 2019 the then Secretary of State, the Rt Hon James Brokenshire, told the House in a written statement (HCWS1790) that locally-led changes to the structures of local government, whether in the form of unitarisation or district mergers, can - with local support - be an appropriate means of ensuring more sustainable local government and local service delivery, enhanced local accountability, and empowered local communities. We remain committed to supporting those councils that wish to combine to serve their communities better, and will consider unitarisation and mergers between councils when locally requested.

Community Land Trusts

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to create new community land trusts.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Housing: Standards

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he has taken in response to the recommendations of the APPG for Healthy Homes and Buildings White Paper, Laying the foundations for healthy homes, published on 24 October 2018.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Social Services: Children

Siobhain McDonagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will allocate additional funding to local authorities for the social care needs of disabled children and their families.

Luke Hall: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Tees Valley Combined Authority

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with Tees Valley Combined Authority on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Luke Hall: We have stepped up our preparedness significantly and are speaking regularly to councils and partners, including through a delivery board and a network of nine regional lead chief executives. Every council has designated a Brexit Lead Officer to work with central government to intensify their local preparations and, in total, we have made £77 million available to help local areas get ready for Brexit.

Families: Disadvantaged

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much funding the Troubled Families programme will receive in the 2019 Spending Round.

Luke Hall: I am pleased to confirm that the Troubled Families Programme will continue for 2020-21 as part of the one-year spending round, ensuring that more families get access to the vital, early support they need to overcome complex problems such as anti-social behaviour, mental health issues or domestic violence. This was announced in HM Treasury’s spending round document. We will be communicating the detail of the funding breakdown as soon as possible.

Buildings: Insulation

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 15 May 2019 to Question 252655, on Buildings: Insulation, if he will publish the results of the tests.

Esther McVey: Yes, we expect to be able to publish research findings in the autumn.

Buildings: Insulation

Sarah Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2019 to Question 279061, on Buildings: Insulation, whether his Department has plans to allocate funding to (a) local authorities and (b) housing associations to (i) identify and (b) remediate unsafe HPL systems on their buildings.

Esther McVey: In July, Government asked local authorities and housing associations to complete a data collection exercise on the external wall systems of high-rise residential buildings that are 18 metres or above. New Burdens funding will be available to local authorities to help them fulfil this exercise. The Government is clear that building owners are responsible for the safety of their buildings and should act to address any safety issues they identify.

Birds: Conservation

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to discourage the misuse of anti-bird netting on hedgerows and trees by housing developers.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Private Rented Housing: Vulnerable Adults

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2019 to Question 240482, how many vulnerable people the Private Rented Sector Access Fund has helped to access and sustain tenancies in the private sector.

Luke Hall: On 1 March 2019 we announced the allocation of £19.5 million to directly fund 66 local authorities through the Private Rented Sector Access Fund.Reported outcomes show that as of the end of June 2019, we have supported 1,090 households.This fund is just one of a range of housing support measures that the Government has put in place:In September 2017 the Government announced the Homelessness Advice and Support Team (HAST), a team of expert advisers that provides support and assistance to improve homelessness services.Government is funding the £40 million London Collaboration Project, which aims at increasing collaboration between London boroughs in the procurement of temporary accommodation for households at risk of homelessness, this will be delivered through the creation of the local government owned company, Capital Letters.The Flexible Homelessness Support Grant has allocated £617 million to local authorities over 3 years from 2017/18 to 2019/20, giving them more control and flexibility in managing homelessness pressures.We have provided £72.7 million in new burdens funding for local authorities to implement the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.The Homelessness Reduction Act, the most ambitious reform to homelessness legislation in decades, came into force on 3rd April 2018.

Council Tax: Non-payment

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to remove the sanction of imprisonment for non-payment of council tax.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he has plans to remove the ability to issue a prison sentence for people that have not paid their council tax.

Luke Hall: The Government does not have any plans to remove the sanction of imprisonment for non-payment of council tax. However, committal to prison should only ever be the last resort in the collection of council tax arrears. Magistrates courts can only commit someone to prison for non-payment of council tax where they are satisfied that the failure to pay is due to their wilful refusal or culpable neglect. The number of committal warrants has been decreasing, with 34 issued in England in 2017-18.

Private Rented Housing: Pensioners

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of pensioners who rented a home from a private landlord in each year since 2010; and how many and what proportion of pensioners renting from private landlords were in rent arrears in that time period.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Parking: Private Sector

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to strengthen local authorities' powers to regulate private car parks.

Luke Hall: Local authorities do not currently have powers to regulate private parking. The private parking industry is self-regulating, though the Government has some concerns about the current system and is taking action to improve the situation for motorists. The Parking (Code of Practice) Act 2019 will introduce a new independent code of practice and a single appeals service. We are currently considering options for implementing the Act and will make an announcement in due course.

Hate Crime

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps the Government is taking to mitigate a potential rise in hate crime in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Luke Hall: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Hate Crime

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that police forces are adequately resourced to tackle a potential rise in hate crime in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Luke Hall: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Empty Dwelling Management Orders

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many interim empty dwelling management orders were approved (a) before and (b) since June 2010; and which local authorities made those orders.

Esther McVey: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Ministry of Defence

Hercules Aircraft

Robert Courts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Defence Safety Authority report into the loss of a C130J Hercules in Iraq in August 2017, published May 2019, which stated that the resourced position of 20 crews will be insufficient to deliver a sustainable force beyond 2019, what additional (a) financial and (b) personnel resources have been allocated to the C130J force to ensure its sustainability.

Mark Lancaster: The increased resource position provided by the most recent planning round meets Defence requirements. Decisions on the number of resourced crews beyond that date have not been finalised and will be undertaken as part of normal budgetary cycles. This process considers and prioritises safety above all other enhancements.

Ministry of Defence: Written Questions

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to provide substantive answers to Questions 240575 and 240576, tabled by the hon. Member for Edinburgh North and Leith on 3 April 2019.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: I responded to the hon. Member today.

Navy: Military Bases

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many visits there have been to UK naval bases by foreign vessels capable of carrying nuclear weapons in each of the last ten years; which bases those vessels visited; and what nations those vessels originated from.

Mark Lancaster: Many ships and submarines are theoretically capable of carrying nuclear weapons. Information regarding all visits to the UK by any nation's vessels over the last ten years could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Submarines: Decomissioning

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 9 July 2019 to Questions 272213 and 272215, when it became his Department's policy to withhold the planned out-of-service dates for Royal Navy submarines.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: In February 2017, the Ministry of Defence determined that the in and out of service dates for submarines should be withheld as disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of the Armed Forces.

Ministry of Defence: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Johnny Mercer: Information on ministerial travel is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. However, the Ministry of Defence publishes data on ministerial overseas travel on a quarterly basis in arrears at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ministerial-gifts-hospitality-travel-and-meetings-with-external-organisations-in-the-ministry-of-defenceInformation on costs on overseas travel from July to September 2019 is expected to be published in December 2019. Please note we do not routinely publish any national travel costs for Ministers.

Ministry of Defence: Travel

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the amount of public money lost through unused travel arrangements booked by his Department.

Johnny Mercer: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) expects all staff to demonstrate the highest standards of responsibility when incurring travel expenses and to minimise unnecessary costs to the public purse. There are some instances, however, where rapidly changing business requirements necessitate last minute cancellations or amendments to travel bookings. For these situations, the MOD has a series of initiatives in place through Hogg Robinson Group (HRG), our travel management company, to reduce the amount of public money lost.For air and rail, refunds are pursued for unused air tickets and uncollected rail tickets. Over the last two financial years this has yielded a combined return of £2.1 million.For hotel 'no shows', where HRG is notified, it actively negotiates a waiver or reduction in charges. 'No shows' are also recorded and reported to budget holders on a monthly basis for their awareness and action where required.

Ministry of Defence: Accountancy

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will provide more details on what is meant by bookkeeping adjustments in his Department's Annual Report and Accounts 2018-19; and what plans he has to reduce the amount of such adjustments in the future.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Bookkeeping adjustments arise when an asset balance or transaction in the accounts is written off because there is no definitive evidence that confirms or denies the existence of the asset or supports the transaction, e.g. writing off asset balances which cannot be linked to physical assets, or balances that should have been cleared on project completion. The accounting adjustments detailed in the Department's Annual Report and Accounts needed to be made because the audit trails did not provide the required standard of certainty over the value of the asset balances or transactions involved. There was no evidence of fraud, theft or payments made in error.Of the £25.622 million reported as Bookkeeping Adjustments, the majority (£24.441 million) relates to just four cases. There are ongoing initiatives to improve the quality and accuracy of the information reported in our Annual Report and Accounts. A Statement of Financial Position Group has been established to enforce a more rigid approach to the management of asset balances across the Department. As a result, we are introducing more regular review of asset balances and account reconciliations. The National Audit Office review the accounting treatment of procurement projects and account reconciliations as part of the financial audit of the Annual Report and Accounts and any errors are reported in the Departmental Management Letter. A formal process exists to monitor resolution of these errors and lessons are incorporated into Departmental Policy.

Porton Down: Procurement

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many SMEs have been awarded Defence Science and Technology Laboratory contracts.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: During 2018-19, 4,312 (36 per cent) of Dstl's contracts were awarded to Small to Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Information Warfare

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has plans to improve the UK's hybrid warfare capability.

Mark Lancaster: Hybrid threats present themselves across multiple domains, and consequently Her Majesty's Government considers a 'whole of Government approach' as critical to ensure effective resilience, response and deterrence.The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a key role to play in this, and is firmly committed to collaboration with other Government departments, working in line with Fusion Doctrine to achieve a cohesive approach.Informed by the policy direction set out in the National Security Capability Review (NSCR) and Modernising Defence Programme (MDP) MOD is actively working to evolve our vision for Joint Force 2025 to address the more uncertain, volatile international security environment that has developed since 2015.As hybrid threats manifest in multiple domains, the UK needs to maintain credible forces to deter and defend against a broad spectrum of threats.As we develop new capabilities to address emerging threats we must carefully and objectively balance this with the continued need to protect against conventional attack. Where possible we will seek to develop capabilities that have utility across the spectrum of conflict. We do not comment on the specifics of capabilities being developed in the interests of National Security, as these could be of use to a potential adversary.Resilience is also key when dealing with hybrid threats, and we are aware that we must protect conventional capabilities from new threats. The MOD has, therefore, invested significantly in cyber defence and security across its capabilities and infrastructure, with £265 million being invested in a pioneering approach to root out cyber vulnerabilities within military platforms and wider cyber dependent systems, helping defence better understand and mitigate cyber risks.

Tornado Aircraft: Training

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when his Department plans to end the service of the RAF Tornado simulator.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Following the drawdown of the Tornado Force in March 2019, the Tornado simulators at both RAF Marham and RAF Lossiemouth have been dismantled and disposed of.

Type 31 Frigates

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of naming one of the future Type 31 frigates after Burslem, the mother town of the potteries.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The names of the Type 31 Frigates have already been proposed by the Navy Board and are awaiting final approval. Following approval, the names will be announced at appropriate opportunities in the future.I have asked the Navy Board's Ships' Names and Badges Committee to note the proposal for the name 'Burslem' to be considered for a ship or submarine in the future.

Ministry of Defence: Procurement

Ruth Smeeth: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what analysis he undertakes of social value when awarding contracts.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) continually seeks to improve its public procurement and contract award processes to obtain the best commercial outcome for the taxpayer. We do this in a way that looks to strengthen our economy and prosperity where it is relevant to what is being procured and is fair and non-discriminatory.To maximise UK economic benefits, the MOD uses the Treasury's Green Book framework when making investment decisions; this requires all assessments to be made on the basis of social value.In competitive procurement, socio-economic factors can be used as criteria for awarding contracts providing they are relevant, proportionate and do not prejudice fair competition. Where appropriate, these factors are considered alongside traditional award criteria such as quality, cost and delivery, to ensure social value is fully considered and value for money is achieved.

Syria: Armed Conflict

Carol Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans are in place to uphold the no-fly zone and de-escalation zone in the province of Idlib, Syria.

Mark Lancaster: The UK was not a party to the agreement to establish de-escalation zones in Syria made by Russia, Turkey and Iran in 2017. We are gravely concerned by the ongoing military action by Russia and the Syrian regime in Idlib, including strikes which have hit civilian infrastructure. All parties should respect the de-escalation zone and agreed ceasefire, abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law and act to protect civilians.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary: Pay Settlements

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish the outcome of the 2019-20 pay settlement for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary merchant seafarers.

Johnny Mercer: The 2019-20 pay settlement for Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) personnel has not yet been agreed. Ministry of Defence officials continue to work on a pay proposal for the RFA for 2019-20 based on Public Sector Pay Award Guidelines that were published by Her Majesty's Treasury on 13 June 2019.

Defence: Procurement

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has made an assessment of the extent to which the administration of Harland and Wolff will weaken the UK's sovereign defence capability.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: For the purpose of safeguarding national security, the Department does not comment on whether a capability within the UK's industrial and technological base is vital for operational advantage or freedom of action reasons (often referred to as sovereign capabilities). Whilst we are disappointed to hear that Harland and Wolff entered administration, this will not affect current or future capabilities for the Royal Navy.

RAF St Athan

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether a date for the closure of  No.4 School of Technical Training at RAF St. Athan has been agreed; and if he will make a statement.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: There is an ongoing requirement for the training delivered by No. 4 School of Technical Training, and there are no plans to close the School. However, the intent remains to relocate No.4 School of Technical Training from its current location in St Athan before the lease on the School's buildings expire in 2024.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, under what circumstances would HM Paymaster amend the amount of maintenance owed provided through a calculation by the Child Maintenance Service.

Johnny Mercer: The administration of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is the responsibility of the Department for Work and Pensions.The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) with the Child Maintenance Service to facilitate the direct deduction of child maintenance payments from the pay of parents who are Service personnel. In the case of Service personnel, the MOD receives a deduction of earning request rather than the more normal deduction of earning order.The MOD will assist the CMS in engaging with the Service person and will implement any deduction of earning request from the CMS. The only exception is when the Service person is in an operational zone. Under the terms of the MOU, if a Service person is committed to operations, their Commanding Officer may delay any engagement with the CMS until the non-resident Service person is able to consider any papers that the CMS may send them and respond appropriately.

Cape Wrath

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will publish any environmental audit it has carried out on its activities on Cape Wrath.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Defence Infrastructure Organisation and its Industry Partner undertake routine internal audits of its Environmental Management Systems delivered across the UK Training Estate which includes Cape Wrath.No additional audits are planned to be completed this year that specifically investigate the environmental impacts of military activity on Cape Wrath.It is not routine for the Ministry of Defence to externally publish these internal environmental audits.

Ministry of Defence: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Johnny Mercer: The Ministry of Defence accounting systems do not identify separate expenditure for refreshments.

Ministry of Defence: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what meetings his Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Mark Lancaster: Local government plays a vital role in preparing the country to be fully ready for Brexit on 31 October.We have stepped up our preparedness significantly and speak regularly to councils and partners, including through the Local Government Brexit Delivery Board and a network of nine regional chief executives. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government leads this engagement.Every council has designated a Brexit Lead Officer to work with central government to intensify their local preparations and, in total, we have made £77 million available to help local areas get ready for Brexit.

RAF St Athan

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the lease for buildings occupied by No.4 School of Technical Training at RAF St. Athan is due to expire; and if he will make a statement.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The lease for the land currently occupied by No. 4 School of Technical Training has been extended until March 2024.

RAF St Athan

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what financial assistance will be made available to individuals employed at No.4 School of Technical Training at RAF St. Athan to transfer to its new location; and if he will make a statement.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The future location and timeframe to relocate No.4 School of Technical Training at MOD St Athan has not been finalised and is subject to further assessment. The provision of any financial assistance will be in accordance with MOD policy at the time of the move.

Game: Gun Sports

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list any UK military establishments where driven grouse shooting has been permitted in the last 12 months.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Grouse shooting is permitted on the Defence Estate only when a licence has been granted by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation. Grouse shooting licences have been issued at RAF Fylingdales and at Warcop and Catterick training areas, in the last 12 months.

Shipbuilding: Graduates

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has plans to increase the number of graduates entering the UK's shipbuilding sector.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to improve the skills base of the UK's shipbuilding industry.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the roles in UK shipbuilding that have skills shortages.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: As the National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSBS) acknowledges, having the skills within the UK to design, build, repair, and supply certain equipment and systems and integrate naval ships (and security sensitive equipment in all naval ships) is a key factor in the successful delivery of naval capability. We acknowledge that ensuring that there are sufficient numbers of properly skilled workers across the sector will require continued investment and support from Industry. BAE Systems have recently evidenced their commitment to developing world-class engineering skills by opening their Academy for Skills and Knowledge at Barrow. As I am sure you are aware, there are a variety of initiatives in place across the UK designed to support the development of skills, some are the responsibility of the Devolved Administrations. In relation to naval shipbuilding, the Maritime Enterprise Working Group with the support of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Ministry of Defence and the Society of Maritime Industries coordinate a long term programme of improvement to improve the industry's productivity and competitiveness, including assessing the underpinning skills base and roles.

Veterans: Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of mindfulness-based techniques used in the US for returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Johnny Mercer: Mindfulness-based cognitive techniques have a range of forms and applications, including educational (in developing effective thinking processes) and medical (in treating some mental health conditions). Specifically, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) is recognised by the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) as effective for the treatment of mental health disorders such as recurrent depression, which can be a problem for returning soldiers and veterans.Within the UK Armed Forces, mindfulness techniques are increasingly employed in the therapy space and within formal courses as part of an individual's overall treatment plan, in accordance with NICE guidelines. The techniques are also widely supported across the Ministry of Defence for the promotion of well-being and productivity, and this forms the basis of work undertaken by the Defence Mindfulness Steering Group.

World War II: Military Decorations

Kevin Hollinrake: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, in advance of the 75th anniversary of VE Day, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the Air Crew Europe Star, in line with the Atlantic Star, to ensure that Bomber Command aircrew who have not received either a 1939-45 Star, nor a Bomber Command clasp, get recognition for their sacrifice and service during World War II.

Mark Lancaster: We have enormous admiration and respect for the unique contribution and sacrifice made by Bomber Command aircrew which has been recognised in various ways. Bomber Command aircrew serving after 5 June 1944 (the end date for award of the Air Crew Europe Star) were given recognition for their service in the form of the France and Germany Star.Subsequently, in his independent Medals Review in 2012, Sir John Holmes concluded that Bomber Command had been treated inconsistently with those who served in Fighter Command, and his recommendation of the award of the clasp to Bomber Command air crew was to bring this Command into line with Fighter Command veterans who were awarded a Battle of Britain clasp to the 1939-45 Star, thus reflecting the significant contribution both made to defeating the Nazi threat.In light of the above, we have no plans to revisit the issue of Medallic recognition for Bomber Command veterans, further to the findings of Sir John Holmes' review. It is a matter for the Advisory Military Sub Committee (AMSC) of the Committee on the Grants of Honours, Decorations and Medals, to whom a case regarding Bomber Command has been submitted, to determine whether they will give the issue further consideration.

Armed Forces: Schools

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many visits representatives from the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy and (c) Royal Air Force made to schools and colleges in (i) Wales, (ii) Scotland, (iii) England and (iv) Northern Ireland in the financial years (A) 2017-18 and (B) 2018-19.

Mark Lancaster: The Armed Forces only visit schools and colleges when they have been invited to support activities. No visits to schools by the Armed Forces are directly linked to recruitment, other than specific careers/jobs fairs which generally involve a range of employers. While presentations may be given highlighting the careers available in the Armed Forces, no pupil is able to make a commitment to become a recruit in the Armed Forces during the course of a visit. The visits cover a range of activities such as career events, citizenship talks, science and maths challenges and other indoor or outdoor exercises. The purpose of the visit is always agreed in advance.In the academic year 2017-18, centrally held records indicate that the Navy conducted an estimated 3,240 school visits and the Army carried out 4,710 visits. Records held by the Royal Air Force (RAF) indicate that in the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018 the RAF visited 2,310 schools.It will take time to collate the information for 2018-19 and to establish whether the figures can be broken down by country. I will write to the hon. Member when these enquiries are complete.

Trident

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he he has made of the cost to the public purse of maintaining the Trident Nuclear Weapons programme for (a) 2019 and (b) the lifetime of that programme.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: No estimate has been made of the cost of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise for calendar year 2019. Information on forecast costs for financial years 2018/19 and 2019/20 can be found in figure 12 of the National Audit Office's landscape review of the Enterprise published on 22 May 2018, which is available at the following link:https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/The-Defence-Nuclear-Enterprise-a-landscape-review.pdfThe Ministry of Defence does not, and has no plans to, routinely publish whole life costs for projects, nuclear or otherwise, beyond what is already published in reports such as the Defence Equipment Plan, Ministry of Defence Annual Report and Accounts, and the Infrastructure and Projects Authority's Annual Report on Major Projects.

Ministry of Defence: Saudi Arabia

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) civilian staff in his Department based in the UK, (b) military personnel based in the UK, (c) civilian staff in his Department based in Saudi Arabia and (d) military personnel based in Saudi Arabia were employed by the (i) Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications Project and (ii) Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Project on 1 April 2019.

Mark Lancaster: The number of civilian and military personnel based in the UK and Saudi Arabia who were employed by the Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications Project (SANGCOM) and the Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Projects (MODSAP) on 1 April 2019 is shown below. The Saudi Arabian Government reimburses the UK Ministry of Defence for these staff costs and there is, therefore, no cost to the UK taxpayer.  Manpower number as at 1 April 2019SANGCOMMODSAPUK-based Civilian Staff469UK-based Military Staff035Saudi-based Civilian Staff5138Saudi-based Military Staff2066

Saudi Arabia: Military Aid

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the (a) expenditure was for the financial year 2018-19 and (b) budget is for 2019-20 for (i) the Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications Project and (ii) the Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Project.

Mark Lancaster: The expenditure of the Saudi Arabian National Guard Communications Project (SANGCOM) is recovered from the Saudi Arabian Government, but SANGCOM operates under a separate Memorandum of Understanding from Ministry of Defence Saudi Armed Forces Project (MODSAP), under which the details of such recoveries are confidential to the two Governments.The expenditure by the MODSAP in financial year 2018-19 amounted to £66.43 million. The budget however for financial year 2019-20 is £69.08 million. The costs of MODSAP are met from a management fee received from the Saudi Arabian Government.

Peacekeeping Operations: Afghanistan

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of establishing a committee of inquiry into the causes and effects of the Afghanistan operation between 2003 and 2014.

Mark Lancaster: The Department currently has no plans to conduct an inquiry into the causes and effects of the Afghanistan operation. Following the conclusion of Operation Herrick in 2014, the Army conducted a thorough internal review. We remain focused on supporting the Government of Afghanistan as part of NATO's Resolute Support Mission.

Borders: Northern Ireland

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to support policing on the Irish border in the event that the UK leaves the EU without an agreement.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence has no plans to deploy any additional military personnel to Northern Ireland, nor have we received any requests from other Government Departments or civil authorities to support policing on the Irish border.

Armed Forces: Prosecutions

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on  introducing a statute of limitations to protect servicemen and women.

Johnny Mercer: There are regular meetings between Cabinet colleagues to discuss matters relating to the development of legal measures which will provide protection for our Armed Forces and veterans from the threat of re-investigation, and possible prosecution, for events which occurred many years ago.

Reserve Forces: Pay

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how the daily rate of pay for armed forces reservists is calculated from the regular equivalents.

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the minimum number of hours is that an armed forces reservist is expected to work to qualify for a day's pay.

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the equivalent hourly rate would be for a (a) Private and (b)equivalent rank (OR-2-1) in the Armed Forces Reserves working an eight hour day.

Kirsty Blackman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that the lowest paid armed forces Reserve personnel are paid rates equivalent to the National Living Wage.

Johnny Mercer: In order to safeguard operational effectiveness, the Armed Forces are exempt from the provisions of the 1998 National Minimum Wage (NMW) Act. Nevertheless, we aim to ensure that the Armed Forces are remunerated in line with NMW provisions.The daily pay offered to Part-Time Volunteer Reserve (PTVR) personnel is derived from the equivalent annual salary paid to their Regular counterparts. The annual salary is made up of base pay plus X-Factor, the latter reflecting the different conditions in Service life experienced by members of the Armed Forces compared to conditions in civilian life, averaged over a whole career and across all three Services. All pay rates, including X-Factor percentages, are recommended by the independent Armed Forces' Pay Review Body (AFPRB). At present, full-time Regular personnel are paid X-Factor at 14½% and PTVR personnel get 5% X-Factor. In giving their recommendations, the AFPRB give due consideration to the needs of the Services to recruit and retain suitably able, motivated and qualified people.Following the Government's acceptance of the AFPRB's most recent recommendations (HCWS1770), the current annual starting salary for a Regular private or equivalent (pay increment OR2-1) has risen to £20,000 p.a., whilst the equivalent PTVR annual salary, derived using the lower level of X-Factor, has risen to £18,341 p.a. PTVR daily rates of pay are calculated by dividing the annual salary by 365¼, and a day's pay is earned through voluntary attendance of eight hours or more. For an eight-hour day, this is the equivalent of £6.28 per hour. In addition, PTVR personnel are provided with additional payments in lieu of untaken leave, equivalent to just over 10% of their pay; they may also claim an annual tax-free training bounty of up £470 in their first year of service where they meet their unit's minimum training requirements (approximately 30 days' relevant attendance). When PTVR personnel are called-up, for example for operational deployment, they are paid the same annual salary as their Regular counterparts, i.e. the rate inclusive of the higher level of X-Factor, and they also gain access to the same range of allowances payable for Regular service.This Government will continue to work with the independent AFPRB to ensure that all members of the Armed Forces are fairly remunerated for the work that they do.

Veterans: Females

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recommendations in Forward Assist's report on women veterans entitled No Man’s Land.

Johnny Mercer: While the figures in this report are from a small sample size and contrast with trends from our anonymous surveys, any incident of sexual assault is one too many.Sexual harassment in any form is not tolerated in the Armed Forces and we urge any victim of abuse, whether serving or veteran, to come forward.We are also implementing all the recommendations made by Air Marshal Wigston in his recent report on inappropriate behaviour, including establishing a new team to ensure complaints are dealt with quickly and effectively.

Defence in UK Prosperity Review

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Written Statement of 14 March 2019, entitled Update on Defence Prosperity Programme, Official Report HCWS1411, what progress has been made on the publication of a Defence Prosperity Guide.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Written Ministerial Statement of 14 March 2019 included a commitment to produce a Defence Prosperity Guide. We are currently engaging with stakeholders to develop and agree the contents of this document. A major workshop was held with representative from across defence, wider Government, and industry on 5 July. Following this we are running a series of workshops focused on specific topics.

Defence in UK Prosperity Review

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Written Statement of 14 March 2019, titled Update on Defence Prosperity Programme, Official Report, HCWS1411, whether it is his Department policy to sponsor an international conference on the economic value of defence later in 2019.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: As set out in the Written Ministerial Statement of 14 March 2019, the Ministry of Defence intends to hold an international conference on the economic value of defence later this year. The precise timing is subject to the availability of key stakeholders.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's press release following the Defence Secretary keynote speech at the Sea Power Conference 2019, dated 15 May 2019, from which (a) person or (b) organisation his Department commissioned the research into lessons from the MARS tanker procurement exercise; what the cost to the public purse was of that research; and if he place a copy of that research in the Library.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The research into lessons from the MARS tanker procurement was commissioned by my right hon. Friend Penny Mordaunt MP, the then Secretary of State for Defence. This research was conducted jointly by officials within Navy Command and the Defence Equipment and Support organisation at no additional cost to the Department. Due to commercial sensitivities, consideration is under way to identify if any elements of this could be made public. Any public release would also be copied to the Library of the House.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department's Defence Equipment and Support contract listing for Supply of Fleet Solid Support Vessels, published 22 May 2019, what bids from companies or consortiums have been received for the Fleet Solid Support contract; and if he will publish the names of those companies or consortiums.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Fleet Solid Support ship competition is ongoing and I am therefore withholding the requested information as its disclosure would be prejudicial to the commercial interests of the Ministry of Defence.

Nuclear Weapons: Testing

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if it is his Department's policy not to dispose of documents in relation to the UK nuclear weapons testing programme during the course of his Department's Information Management Programme.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Ministry of Defence's information management policy is in accord with our obligations to the Public Records Act 1958 as set out in Joint Service Publication 441.All records, including those relating to UK nuclear weapons tests, are retained for business, regulatory or legislative purposes. Once the need to retain has passed the record will be reviewed and transferred to The National Archives or another place of deposit, gifted to another organisation, or destroyed.

Military Bases: Northern Ireland

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress has been made on disposing of (a) Abercorn barracks and (b) other earmarked sites in Northern Ireland.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The decommissioning of Abercorn Barracks was announced in the Better Defence Estate announcement of 7 November 2016 (Official report, column 1286). The site was decommissioned in 2018 however, there is continuing Defence requirement for the adjacent training area (Ballykinler Training Centre).In February 2019, the Ministry of Defence also confirmed its use of Newtownards Airfield in Northern Ireland had ceased.The Department's intent remains to dispose of Kinnegar Logistics Base; plans to vacate the site are still being developed.

RAF Northolt: Aviation

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will encourage commercial flights using RAF Northolt to use sustainable sources of aviation fuel.

Johnny Mercer: Fuel Services for visiting business aviation flights at RAF Northolt are provided by a contract with World Fuels Group. Therefore decisions on the future availability of sustainable aviation fuel would require contract modification agreement between World Fuels and the Ministry of Defence. There are currently no plans in this regard. All fuel provided must comply with regulatory standards.

Warships: Procurement

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he will announce preferred bidders for (a) Type 31e frigates and (b) fleet solid support ships.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: For the position on the Type 31 Frigate programme, I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor gave to the hon. Member for Birkenhead (Frank Field) on 13 May 2019 to Question 251904.In respect of the Fleet Solid Support ships, subject to normal approvals, we anticipate that a design and build contract will be awarded in 2020. An announcement will be made in due course.



Type 31 Frigates: Procurement
(Word Document, 28.53 KB)

Defence: Exports

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans his Department has to ensure that UK defence exports continue to be supported after the UK leaves the EU.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Defence exports will continue to be supported, not just by Defence, but by other Government Departments including the Department for International Trade, after the UK leaves the EU. Work is ongoing to explore how to strengthen the competitiveness of UK industry and support exports, both to the EU and globally.

Army: Sick Leave

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many army recruits are on sick leave.

Johnny Mercer: Around five Army recruits undergoing basic training are currently recorded as on "sick leave", where they have been off training for more than 14 days. The number has been rounded to the nearest five to limit disclosure and ensure confidentiality. It is drawn from single service sources rather than official statistics produced by Defence Statistics.

Army: Health Services

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average wait is for army recruits reporting health issues during their training to receive medical treatment from (a) primary care services and (b) secondary care services.

Johnny Mercer: Wait times vary by establishment. Wait times for access to military primary care rehabilitation facilities or to a routine medical appointment range from same day to 48 hours. Those recorded on the Wounded, Injured, & Long Term Sick Management Information System (WISMIS) are normally seen on the same day. Secondary healthcare services are provided by the NHS and information on wait times is not held centrally by the Ministry of Defence.

Army: Sick Leave

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of army recruits who take sick leave return to work to complete their training; and what the average length of absence is.

Johnny Mercer: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Thiepval Barracks

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what additional funding his Department has allocated to defence estates to undertake rationalisation programmes at Thiepval Barracks, Lisburn.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: While subject to the formal approval process as part of the Army Infrastructure Programme, over £37 million has been identified to optimise the Army estate in Northern Ireland over the next five years.Funding has not yet been allocated to individual projects. An Assessment study is due to start next month to present options for future development and these options will inform the funding allocation.

Armed Forces: Northern Ireland

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Office on the (a) strength and (b) location of the garrison in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Lancaster: The Army is continually evaluating its structures to ensure they are optimised for delivering Defence outputs, including those in Northern Ireland. Ministry of Defence officials maintain a regular dialogue with the Northern Ireland Office on these issues.

Reserve Forces: Northern Ireland

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Reserve Forces and Cadets Association on investment in the reserve forces estate in Northern Ireland.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence allocates funding for estate management to the Council of Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations (RFCA) through a Delivery Board where the Defence Infrastructure Organisation with the Front Line Commands engage with RFCAs and monitor expenditure across the UK. Funds are allocated to RFCA for specific tasks, and delivery of these projects is tracked by the Board.

HMS Queen Elizabeth

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will investigate the incident caused by temporary couplings on pipework on HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons temporary couplings were used on HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales instead of permanent fixtures.

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many temporary couplings on pipework were used on (a) HMS Queen Elizabeth and (b) HMS Prince of Wales.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: An investigation has been conducted into the flooding incident that took place in HMS Queen Elizabeth. The incident did not involve a temporary pipe coupling and there are no such couplings in HMS Queen Elizabeth or HMS Prince of Wales.

Submarines: Decommissioning

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the long-term environmental effect of delaying the dismantling of decommissioned submarines in UK dockyards.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: We are confident that there are no significant safety or environmental concerns (radiological or conventional) with the current storage processes. All laid-up submarines at the Rosyth and Devonport Dockyards undergo regular inspection and maintenance to comply with the very highest safety and environmental standards. This includes continual monitoring, annual surveys and periodic docking for re-preservation of the hulls. All aspects of afloat storage, including potential environmental impacts and radiological safety, are regulated by the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator.

Veterans: Charities

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what support is available for veterans charities.

Johnny Mercer: The new Office for Veterans Affairs (OVA) will coordinate Departments and work with Local Authorities, Devolved Governments and charities to deliver more joined-up support for veterans. This builds on the foundations set by the 'Strategy for our Veterans' published at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/strategy-for-our-veteransfor which we engaged with Service charities for ideas on how we can further enhance support for our veterans. The creation of the OVA is the first time that veterans' affairs will be overseen by a dedicated Ministerial team in the Cabinet Office. It will enable better coordination of the full machinery of Government and other partners to improve the lives of veterans.The independent Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust administers £10 million per annum which allows organisations including charities to apply for grants that support the Armed Forces Community.

Stonehouse Barracks

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when he plans to publish new basing arrangements for the Royal Marines currently based at Stonehouse Barracks in Plymouth.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The Royal Navy is conducting an assessment of basing options. Details will be published once a decision is made.

Military Exercises: Plymouth

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to alter the frequency of Exercise Short Sermon for nuclear resilience in Plymouth.

Mark Lancaster: The Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019 (REPPIR) place a statutory duty on Plymouth City Council (PCC) to prepare and test an off-site emergency plan for the Devonport site. Previous tests of the off-site plan have been conducted during Exercise Short Sermon, with the frequency and timing of the exercise being agreed between PCC, the Ministry of Defence and Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited.The next test of these arrangements will be conducted by PCC during Exercise Short Sermon 19, to be held on 12 September, and the Devonport site operations will continue to agree future test dates with PCC in accordance with REPPIR requirements.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on reducing the residency requirements for citizens of British Overseas Territories wishing to join the UK armed forces.

Johnny Mercer: As explained to the hon. Member in the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Armed Forces (Rt Hon Mark Lancaster) on 13 November 2018, to Question 188918: https://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2018-11-06/188918/, citizens of the British Overseas Territory hold one of six types of British nationality which are eligible to apply to join the British Armed Forces, in which they serve as part of the British cohort. There is therefore no requirement to hold discussions with the Home Secretary about the residency requirement for citizens of British Overseas Territories wishing to join the UK Armed Forces. However, for security reasons the Armed Forces continue to have UK residency criteria to ensure the appropriate security standards which apply to all applicants, regardless of nationality, can be met. This will vary depending on the service and role being applied for, but applications are considered on a case by case basis.   



Armed Forces:Recruitment
(Word Document, 28.08 KB)

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Mr Alister Jack: The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland spend on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in the financial year in 2017-18 is shown below. First Class£ 247Second Class£ 84,878Total£ 85,125

Local Growth Deals: Borderlands

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent progress has been made with the Borderlands Growth Deal.

Mr Alister Jack: Heads of Terms for the Borderlands Growth Deal was agreed by all parties in the Borders on 1 July. Since then, my officials have continued to engage with the Borderlands partners, including a meeting in Carlisle on 9 August to consider governance arrangements and a meeting in Edinburgh on 27 August with lead officers to discuss progress across all the themes. On 11 September, officials are due to meet with the Scottish Government and Dumfries & Galloway Council to discuss the particular proposal for a Dairy Innovation Centre.

Scotland Office: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Mr Alister Jack: The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland does not separately record the cost of refreshments.

Scotland Office: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Mr Alister Jack: The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland spend on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in the financial year 2018-19 is shown below. First Class£ 214Second Class£ 105,625Total£ 105,839

NHS Scotland

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent assessment he has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on the supply of products to NHS Scotland.

Mr Alister Jack: The UK Government continues to engage with the Scottish Government, who have responsibility for NHS Scotland. The UK Government continues to work at pace to ensure that all necessary preparations are in place, including working directly with suppliers and pharmaceutical companies to ensure there is a continued supply of medicines, medical devices and clinical consumables when the UK leaves the European Union. Additional freight capacity is being secured, which will support existing plans such as building buffer stocks of medicines and medical products, procuring additional warehouse capacity and supporting companies preparing for new customs and border requirements.

Food Banks: Scotland

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether he plans to visit a food bank in September 2019.

Mr Alister Jack: I currently have no plans to visit a food bank in my capacity as Secretary of State for Scotland in September 2019.

Scotland Office: Freedom of Information

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2019 to Question 230100, Scotland Office: Freedom of Information, what estimate he has made of the cost of updating the published list of responses to Freedom of Information requests since 2014.

Mr Alister Jack: The Office concluded that it did not have the resources to publish retrospectively online all of the responses to FOI requests since 2014 and that the benefit to the public would not be proportionate to the cost.

City Region Deals and Local Growth Deals: Scotland

Angus Brendan MacNeil: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, with reference to the Prime Minister’s announcement of 28 July 2019 on City Region and Growth deals, what information has been made available to(a) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, (b) Orkney Islands Council and (c) Shetland Islands Council on a deal for the Islands.

Mr Alister Jack: My officials continue to engage with the Islands partners and most recently met with the Islands Deal Programme Director on 2 August and 4 September to discuss next steps. Officials also spoke with the Leader of Orkney Islands Council on 27 August. We expect to receive the latest suite of proposals from the Islands partners later this month.

Department for International Trade

Department for International Trade: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much her Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Conor Burns: The Department for International Trade has spent a total of £276,815 on refreshments in the financial years 2017/18 and 2018/19. This cost includes both the UK and overseas. The breakdown is as follows:Financial YearAmountApril 2017 – March 2018£118,579April 2018 – March 2019£158,236Total£276,815 Staff at the Department for International Trade are located across more than one hundred countries and as we prepare to leave the EU, our ministers and Department for International Trade staff regularly travel overseas to build relationships with key global trading partners and the Department uses refreshment for diplomatic entertainment on trade issues. This includes through the 14 trade working groups we have set up across 21 countries to advance the UK's trade and investment relationships and scope out the potential for future free trade agreements. The figures include overseas spending.

Department for International Trade: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Conor Burns: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Free Zones: Scotland

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she has plans to establish areas that are outside the UK’s customs territory in Scotland.

Conor Burns: The Secretary of State for International Trade recently announced the creation of new UK Freeports that will boost trade, attract inward investment and drive economic growth after Brexit. Whilst we develop the policy, it is important that we consider a Freeport model that works in the best interests of the whole of the UK. Once a model has been decided, a selection process will take place where specific locations for UK Freeports will be chosen.

Disability Aids: Import Duties

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether she has made an assessment of the effect of the levying of import taxes on assistive and adaptive equipment used by people with disabilities in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement; and what steps she plans to take to ensure that people with disabilities will be able to access such equipment in the event the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Conor Burns: The Government is committed to ensuring people with disabilities are not negatively impacted in any EU Exit scenario. If the UK leaves the EU without a deal in place, the Government would implement its Temporary Tariff Regime, announced in March. Under this regime the majority of imports would be tariff free, reducing the risk of price increases for consumers. The Temporary Tariff Regime does not plan to impose import taxes on assistive and adaptive equipment. The full list of products that will face tariffs in a no deal exit can be found online.

Trade Agreements

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will bring forward legislative proposals to exclude the NHS from any trade deals that are negotiated after the UK leaves the EU.

Conor Burns: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for International Trade: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Conor Burns: Details of travel costs incurred by Ministers of the Department during the calendar year 2018 are listed in the table below (£’s). These figures represent costs for travel booked through the Department’s travel management company. AIR   ECONOMY27182.92PREMIUM ECONOMY1248.00BUSINESS275071.80Total  303502.72RAIL   STANDARD5354.00STANDARD PREMIUM268.00TOTAL  5622.00GRAND TOTAL 309124.72

Overseas Trade: Argentina

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent assessment she has made of the effect of the economic situation in Argentina on UK trade with that country.

Conor Burns: The UK continues to monitor the economic situation in Argentina to ensure we can offer the best possible support to the more than 100 UK companies currently operating in Argentina, as well as prospective exporters.The UK considers Argentina to be a key trading partner within the Latin America region. We are committed to building our trade and investment with Argentina, which was highlighted by the announcement of Mark Menzies MP as the Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy to Argentina in December 2018. Since then Mark has undertaken two visits to Argentina to help foster trade and Baroness Fairhead also visited Argentina in April. We were happy to receive over one hundred Argentinian companies to the UK earlier this year, to explore business opportunities with UK companies in areas where the UK has world class expertise.

Publications: Exports

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, whether any countries plan to raise their tariffs on the importation of books from the UK.

Conor Burns: Most of the UK’s key trading partners apply zero MFN tariffs on books, including the EU, US, Japan, Korea, Turkey, Switzerland and Canada. With others, including Chile and Colombia, the UK will retain current tariff preferences as a result of rolling over existing agreements. There are some countries, including Mexico, Egypt and Morocco, with which we are currently negotiating to retain the existing tariff preferences. If these negotiations are not concluded successfully then they would likely impose duties on UK books. The UK will continue to not charge any import duties on books irrespective of the country of origin.

Department for International Trade: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what meetings her Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Graham Stuart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Military Intervention: Yemen

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the UN expert panel report which stated that British-made laser guidance missile systems were found at an air raid site in Yemen in a strike that breached international humanitarian law; and whether his Department plans to appeal the Court of Appeal ruling of 20 June 2019 on the application of Campaign Against Arms Trade.

Graham Stuart: The Government will take account of this report and other relevant evidence, information and reporting in making any decisions on the export licensing position under Criterion 2c of the Consolidated EU and National Arms Export Licensing Criteria. The Government will not grant a licence if there is a clear risk that the items might be used in the commission of a serious violation of international humanitarian law. The Secretary of State has submitted a Notice of Appeal to the Supreme Court in respect of the Court of Appeal’s judgement of 20 June 2019. Without prejudice to this, work is underway on the process for retaking licensing decisions in accordance with the Order of the Court of Appeal of 20 June 2019.

Business: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what recent discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on supporting businesses in Northern Ireland after the UK leaves the EU.

Conor Burns: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Arms Trade

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans exist to ensure that defence exports continue to be supported after the UK leaves the EU.

Graham Stuart: Defence exporters will continue to be supported by the Defence and Security Organisation within DIT, as they are now. Military and dual-use items will continue to be subject to the existing export licensing controls.

Freeports Advisory Panel

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, for what reasons the (a) aviation, (b) rail and (c) road haulage industries are not represented on the Freeport Advisory Panel.

Graham Stuart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Trade Agreements: India

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what progress she has made towards securing a bilateral trade agreement with the Government of India.

Conor Burns: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Imports: Developing Countries

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on exporters to the UK based in developing countries.

Conor Burns: Our first priority is to deliver continuity in our trading arrangements with developing countries on leaving the EU to minimise trade disruption.The Taxation (Cross-Border Trade) Act enables the UK to put in place a UK trade preferences scheme for developing countries. This will provide the same level of access as the current EU trade preference scheme by granting duty-free, quota-free access to around 48 Least Developed Countries and tariff reductions to other developing countries.It remains our priority to replicate the effects of seven EU Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) with African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries. The UK has signed EPAs with Eastern and Southern Africa states, Pacific states and CARIFORUM states. This will provide continuity for businesses, exporters and consumers as the UK prepares to leave the EU. We are continuing to work with other partner countries to have agreements in place ready for when we need them, whether that is in the event of no deal, or after an implementation period.

Overseas Trade: Africa

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, if she will guarantee continued market access to the UK on current terms to (a) Ghana, (b) Cameroon, (c) Côte d’Ivoire, (d) Kenya and (e) South Africa in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Conor Burns: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Overseas Trade: Ethics

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what plans she has to develop fair and ethical trade.

Conor Burns: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Transport

Electric Scooters: Safety

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on public safety of e-scooters used on the public highway.

George Freeman: Given that electric scooters, and other micromobility devices, are treated like any other motor vehicle under the Road Traffic Act, they are subject to laws requiring them to conform to technical standards and be used safely. This includes requirements for users to have insurance, driving licences, number plates, and helmets. At present, it is difficult for electric scooters to meet these requirements and as such they are illegal to use on a public road. Therefore, the Department has made no assessment of their effect on public safety. Ministers are actively looking at ways to provide a framework for UK leadership in transport technology and innovation, and safe and effective regulation. The Future of Mobility regulatory review will address the challenges of ensuring our transport infrastructure and regulation are fit for the future. This is a broad programme of work, and we expect to publish an initial consultation in autumn this year.

Transport: Coastal Areas

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government has plans to allocate funding to local transport and connectivity projects in seaside towns.

George Freeman: We want to unlock the potential of every corner of the UK. Local transport funding decisions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are devolved to the Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly Government and Northern Ireland Executive, respectively. For England, we welcome proposals from Local Enterprise Partnerships, Sub-national Transport Bodies, local authorities and others on transport investment. These bodies are best placed to prioritise investments in their local areas, including to support coastal towns. When the Department for Transport considers proposals, investment decisions are made based on a rigorous and fair appraisal process that ensures spending goes to the projects and programmes where it is most needed and delivers greatest value-for-money for both taxpayers and passengers. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Coastal Communities Fund also supports improvements in productivity in the coastal economy through projects promoting investment in innovation, infrastructure or skills provision.

East Coast Railway Line

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government plans to take to remove key constraints on the East Coast Main Line.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government has announced Control Period 6 investment of up to £780m in the East Coast Main Line. The Department is working with stakeholders, including Transport for the North, to identify and assess further potential enhancements for the East Coast Main Line. We will take staged decisions to progress further enhancements through the Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline process.

East Coast Railway Line

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what options the Partnership Board have developed for delivering the East Coast Partnership.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Plans for the long-term structure and delivery of the East Coast Partnership (ECP) are being developed in line with the Williams Rail Review. These options will create a renewed focus on delivering reliable and high-quality rail services for passengers.The creation of the ECP is an evolutionary process. LNER, Network Rail, and DfT are already implementing ways of working together more effectively to improve performance on the East Coast Mainline and support the delivery of significant service improvements in Control Period 6 (CP6).

Season Tickets: Compensation

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of automatically awarding season ticket rail passengers with compensation in respect of a delay to their travel.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Since announcing ‘one-click’ compensation in October 2018, the Government has introduced a requirement for new franchises to introduce simple automated Delay Repay claims systems, available via smartphones and smartcard registration, to make it easier for passengers to claim compensation when they have suffered delays. Automated ‘one-click’ compensation schemes make it very quick and easy to claim compensation and have a number of advantages over automatic compensation schemes – for example, the fact that passengers know they have received compensation and also that the risk of fraud is reduced, because passengers need to ‘click’ to confirm they were on the delayed train.

Aviation: Scotland

Andrew Bowie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to support Scottish civil aviation.

Paul Maynard: We are committed to expanding and liberalising air access to new and existing global markets, ensuring enhanced connectivity for Scotland and all of the UK.The government has joint-funded an air route, alongside Dundee City Council and Transport Scotland, from Dundee to London through a public service obligation (PSO) since 2014. This protects an important connection from the Tay Cities region into the capital, allowing business passengers to complete a full day of work without the need for an overnight stay.Last year, as part of the Tays cities deal, the UK Government invested £8.1 million in the Aviation Academy for Scotland, a Tayside-wide partnership project aimed at providing specialist training and skills in the aviation industry.In addition, the UK government has also agreed and legislated to devolve powers over Air Passenger Duty (APD) to the Scottish Government. This will enable the devolved administration to design and collect revenue through its own Air Departure Tax.

Vehicle Number Plates: Fraud

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of trends in the number of cloned vehicles in the UK in the last five years.

George Freeman: The Department for Transport does not keep statistics on the number of cloned vehicles as this is a matter for the police. If the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) is notified of a suspected cloned vehicle, it will investigate and where appropriate, amend the vehicle record and issue a replacement vehicle registration number. The DVLA will also pass on any intelligence gathered to the police.

Vehicle Number Plates: Fraud

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps are being taken by (a) his Department and (b) the DVLA to tackle vehicle cloning.

George Freeman: The Department for Transport takes this issue very seriously and we appreciate how distressing this criminal activity can be for innocent motorists. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) works closely with the police, the motor trade, vehicle data checking companies and the vehicle security industry to help deal with this issue. A list of things a prospective purchaser should look for to help ensure that the identity of the vehicle they are buying is correct is shown on the GOV.UK website

East Coast Railway Line

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions there has been significant disruption to the East Coast Main Line as a result of points failures in each of the last 12 months.

Chris Heaton-Harris: In the 12 month period up to 20 July 2019 there were 5 occasions on which points failures on the East Coast Main Line caused more than 500 minutes of delay; 3 of these incidents caused more than 1,000 minutes of delay.

Taxis: Licensing

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2019 to Question 252472 on taxis: licensing, if he will reconsider introducing statutory definitions of plying for hire and pre-booked; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the judgment on 14 January 2019 in which a private hire driver was prosecuted for illegally plying for hire in Reading.

George Freeman: The Government response to the Task and Finish Group report published on 12 February 2019 advised that the recommendation in respect of providing a statutory definition of plying for hire would not be taken forward as it would not provide a practical improvement on the current position. The Law Commission came to this view in accordance with the advice received from a panel of distinguished licensing lawyers convened specifically for the purpose of discussing reform of plying for hire. The main reason for this conclusion was that whether a driver is plying for hire in particular circumstances is a matter of fact and degree that a court must consider. The Department regularly monitors cases but does not consider that any recent cases necessitate a change in approach. Private hire vehicles are already only permitted to carry passengers when a booking has been made through a licensed operator.

Railway Stations: Access

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans his Department has to increase funding to the Access for All scheme to allow more stations to be upgraded.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: We have made a further £300m available, which has been allocated to projects until 2024. If the programme continues to be delivered successfully, DfT will make submissions for further funding in due course. In the meantime, if the industry installs, replaces or renews station infrastructure this will need to comply with current accessibility standards.

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether it remains his Department's policy to deliver the High Speed 2 rail line.

Paul Maynard: The Prime Minister has appointed Douglas Oakervee to chair an independent review of HS2 to consider whether and how we proceed with the project. The review will consider all existing evidence on the project and consider a number of aspects of the programme, including its benefits and impacts; affordability and efficiency; deliverability; and scope and phasing, including its relationship with Northern Powerhouse Rail. The Review’s full terms of reference are available on gov.uk. A final report will be sent to the Department in the autumn to inform the Government’s decision on the next steps for the project. We will publish this Review and take decisions on the HS2 project once we have considered the findings.

River Thames: Passenger Ships

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on the loss of competition and choice on the River Thames as a result of that agency's proposals for older passenger boats.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: As Minister responsible for shipping matters, I have regular discussions with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) about its work. The MCA developed an impact assessment on its proposals for older domestic passenger ships which has been updated as new information is received, in particular from the public consultations. The MCA has been in contact with the Competition and Markets Authority to discuss the proposals and has included a Competition Impact Assessment element within the main impact assessment. The proposal is progressing through the normal regulatory scrutiny process.

Passenger Ships: Safety

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) on enabling older Category V passenger boats to improve their safety provisions without them being forced out of business as a result of the MCA’s proposals for older passenger boats.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: As Minister responsible for shipping matters on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport, I have regular discussion with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) about its work. Following the first consultation on these proposals (6 November 2018 to 29 January 2019) the MCA revised the proposals in the light of feedback received, particularly from owners and operators, to reduce the economic impact, where possible, without compromising the objective of enhanced safety. A further consultation was carried out between 29 May and 10 July 2019. A drop-in session was also held for Honourable Members to raise any concerns in May 2019.

Railway Stations: Access

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer 24 July 2019 to Question 280294, what the funding allocations are for the (a) six stations in Scotland, (b) 10 stations in Wales and (c) 57 stations in England.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Access for All funding is held and managed at a national level and is not allocated separately to Scotland, England and Wales. All projects are in the early stages of development. Once station projects are fully developed and appropriate designs selected, we will have a better idea of how much each station will cost.

Passenger Ships: Safety

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport,what the status is of the Equivalence Rules contained within the 1992 Construction and Use Regulations which allow older passenger boats in the UK to continue to operate for their entire working lives while improving on board safety provisions.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction and Survey) (Amendment) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2358) and the Merchant Shipping (Fire Protection) (Amendment) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2360) are no longer extant. The applicable legislation for domestic passenger ships is: The Merchant Shipping (Passenger Ship Construction: Ships of Classes III to VI(A)) Regulations 1998 (as amended) (SI 1998 No. 2515) (exemption provision Regulation 4);The Merchant Shipping (Life-Saving Appliances for Passenger Ships of Classes III To VI(A)) Regulations 1999 (as amended) (SI 1999 No. 2723) (exemption provision Regulation 4); andThe Merchant Shipping (Fire Protection: Small Ships) Regulations 1998 (as amended) (SI 1998 No. 1011) (exemption provision Regulation 47). While the equivalence provisions in those regulations are open-ended it is normal to review regulatory provisions from time to time to ensure they remain fit for purpose and where necessary make changes. There are no merchant shipping regulations which purport to guarantee that the same standards will apply in perpetuity.

Passenger Ships: Safety

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to meet with the Passenger Boat Association to discuss the effect on jobs and vessels of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s plans for older passenger boats; and if will he make a statement.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has had ongoing dialogue with the Passenger Boat Association (PBA) throughout the development of the proposals for older passenger boats. The PBA is a member of the MCA’s stakeholder group for the sector, the Domestic Passenger Safety Steering Group (DPSSG), which meets annually. The MCA’s plans for older passenger vessels have been discussed at the DPSSG on several occasions. Additionally, MCA policy officials have held dedicated stakeholder meetings on the proposals for older passenger boats, at all of which the PBA have been represented. Three of these meetings were in 2016, one in November 2018 and another in March 2019. The MCA also met with a representative of the PBA, and another organization, in a small informal meeting on 15 May 2019.  The MCA has carried out two public consultations on the matter, and the PBA responded to both.

Passenger Ships: Safety

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his Department has had with regional tourism bodies on the effect of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s proposals of older passenger boats on the UK’s fleet of passenger boats.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: As Minister responsible for shipping matters on behalf of the Secretary of State for Transport, I am aware that my officials in the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) have developed an impact assessment on its proposals for older domestic passenger ships which is updated from time to time as new information is received, and is progressing through the normal government scrutiny process. A draft of the impact assessment (IA) was published during a public consultation which ran from 6 November 2018 to 29 January 2019. Consultees were invited to comment on the validity of the analysis in the IA and encouraged to provide information that would help to strengthen this. A further consultation focussing on the policy and legislation was carried out between 29 May and 10 July 2019. No specific discussion took place between the Department and regional tourism bodies, but the consultation was open to comments from them. The IA was amended to take account of any relevant comments received. A drop-in session was held for Honourable Members to raise any concerns in May 2019.

River Thames: Passenger Ships

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to meet to Mayor of London to discuss the effect of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s plans for older passenger boats on the (a) jobs and (b) livelihoods of people working (i) on the River Thames, (ii) in London tourism and (iii) in Thames’ night economy.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Ministers have regular meetings with the Mayor of London and the Minister for London to discuss a range of matters. I also responded to a letter of 30 April 2019 from the Mayor and a London Assembly Member who enquired about the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) proposals, providing contact details of officials in the MCA should they require further information. The MCA consulted upon an impact assessment during a public consultation which ran from 6 November 2018 to 29 January 2019, and again on policy and legislation from 29 May to 10 July 2019. Consultees were invited to comment on the validity of the analysis in the impact assessment and encouraged to provide information that would help to strengthen this. The impact assessment has been updated to reflect the range of further information provided through consultee feedback.Ministers have regular meetings with the Mayor of London and the Minister for London to discuss a range of matters. I also responded to a letter of 30 April 2019 from the Mayor and a London Assembly Member who enquired about the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) proposals, providing contact details of officials in the MCA should they require further information. The MCA consulted upon an impact assessment during a public consultation which ran from 6 November 2018 to 29 January 2019, and again on policy and legislation from 29 May to 10 July 2019. Consultees were invited to comment on the validity of the analysis in the impact assessment and encouraged to provide information that would help to strengthen this. The impact assessment has been updated to reflect the range of further information provided through consultee feedback.

River Thames: Passenger Ships

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the (a) dates, (b) names of vessel and (c) date of build of vessel for each recorded collision between older Class V passenger boats and other vessels on the River Thames since 1990.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The table below provides details of the (a) dates, (b) names of vessel and (c) date of build of vessel for each recorded collision between older Class V passenger boats and other vessels on the River Thames since 1990. Date of collisionName of vesselType of VesselYear of Build16/12/1996Yarmouth Belle Unknown Class V Other vessel1892 Unknown01/08/1999Yarmouth Belle Unknown Class V Other vessel1892 Unknown07/09/2002Hydrospace Gamma Unknown Class V Other vessel1982 Unknown17/12/2004Beatrice Unknown Class V Other vessel1942 Unknown16/06/2005Goring Unknown Class V Other vessel1912 Unknown22/09/2007Connaught Unknown Class V Other vessel1911 Unknown20/05/2009Salient UnknownClass V Other vessel1979 Unknown11/11/2009Henley UnknownClass V Other vessel1896 Unknown09/04/2010Hurricane Clipper UnknownClass V Other Vessel1981 Unknown30/05/2010Kingston Royale UnknownClass V Other vessel1978 Unknown24/07/2013City Alpha KeturaClass V Narrow Boat1982 Unknown31/12/2013Kingwood ValiantClass V Service Ship1914 200410/05/2015Sarah Kathleen HooknessClass V Salvage Vessel1963 Unknown05/08/2016Duchess M MagellanClass V Cruise Ship1956 Unknown

High Speed 2 Railway Line

Craig Tracey: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to reports that the Chair of HS2 Ltd, Mr Allan Cook has written to his Department stating the high-speed line cannot be delivered within its £56bn budget, what steps he is taking to update Parliament on the new cost projections for High Speed Two; when he plans to publish the findings of Mr Cook’s review; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 09 September 2019.The correct answer should have been:

The Prime Minister has appointed Douglas Oakervee to chair an independent review of HS2 to consider whether and how we proceed with the project. The review will consider all existing evidence on the project and consider a number of aspects of the programme, including its benefits and impacts; affordability and efficiency; deliverability; and scope and phasing, including its relationship with Northern Powerhouse Rail. The Review’s full terms of reference are available on gov.uk. Allan Cook’s findings will be part of the evidence for this review. A final report will be sent to the Department in the autumn to inform the Government’s decision on the next steps for the project. We will publish this Review and take decisions on the HS2 project once we have considered the findings.The Government has published Allan Cook's assessment and is available in the libraries of both Houses.The Government intends to publish Allan Cook’s assessment in due course.

Paul Maynard: The Prime Minister has appointed Douglas Oakervee to chair an independent review of HS2 to consider whether and how we proceed with the project. The review will consider all existing evidence on the project and consider a number of aspects of the programme, including its benefits and impacts; affordability and efficiency; deliverability; and scope and phasing, including its relationship with Northern Powerhouse Rail. The Review’s full terms of reference are available on gov.uk. Allan Cook’s findings will be part of the evidence for this review. A final report will be sent to the Department in the autumn to inform the Government’s decision on the next steps for the project. We will publish this Review and take decisions on the HS2 project once we have considered the findings.The Government has published Allan Cook's assessment and is available in the libraries of both Houses.The Government intends to publish Allan Cook’s assessment in due course.

River Thames: Passenger Ships

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish details of the collisions between (a) older Class V passenger boats and (b) named Class V vessels built since 1990 with other vessels on the Thames that have been recorded in each year from 1990 to date.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The table below provides details of the collisions between (a) older Class V passenger boats and (b) named Class V vessels built since 1990 with other vessels on the Thames that have been recorded in each year from 1990 to date. Date of collisionName of vesselType of VesselYear of Build19/07/1992Veritatem Chelsea HarbourClass V Class V1992 198022/08/1993Chevening WitheycombeClass V Class V1974 197022/10/1994Mercedes ViceroyClass V Class V1960 190224/06/1995Princess Pocahontas ThistleClass V Class V1962 190019/09/1998Silver Sturgeon Unknown Class V Other vessel1997 Unknown25/08/1999Abel Magwitch Golden SalamanderClass V Class V1999 197726/08/2003Sarpedon Unknown Class V Other vessel2001 Unknown04/11/2003Greenwich Belle Hydrospace GammaClass V Class V1974 198223/07/2004Chay Blyth Millennium of TimeClass V Class V1972 199923/07/2005Sarah Kathleen Millennium TimeClass V Class V1963 199910/03/2006Mercia Millennium DawnClass V Class V1984 199922/04/2006Hurricane Clipper Unknown Class V Other vessel2001 Unknown07/03/2007Sapele Unknown Class V Other vessel2006 Unknown06/09/2007Henley MerciaClass V Class V1896 198410/12/2007Monsoon Clipper Unknown Class V Other vessel2007 Unknown09/08/2009Sarah Kathleen Aurora ClipperClass V Class V1963 200720/09/2009Hurricane Clipper George WilliamsClass V Other vessel2001 Unknown17/03/2011Moon Clipper London Rose (moored)Class V Class V2001 197701/06/2011Sun Clipper MorfilClass V Rigid Inflatable2001 Unknown03/12/2011Royalty Hurricane ClipperClass V Class V1913 200121/06/2012London Rose City DeltaClass V Class V1977 200126/07/2012Sarah Kathleen Millennium of LondonClass V Class V1963 199623/08/2013Meteor Clipper PLA Dumb BargeClass V Dumb Barge2007 Unknown20/10/2013Mercuria Millennium TimeClass V Class V2005 199901/06/2014Sapele HarmonyClass V Class V2006 200417/07/2014Millennium Time RedoubtClass V Tug1999 2010

Passenger Ships: Safety

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the relationship between the operators of older passenger boats and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency; and what steps could be taken to improve that relationship.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: As Minister responsible for shipping matters, I am aware that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has a generally good relationship with operators of older passenger boats. The MCA stakeholder group for the sector, the Domestic Passenger Safety Steering Group (DPSSG), meets annually, and the MCA’s proposals related to older passenger boats have been discussed by the DPSSG. In addition, the MCA has hosted five workshops with stakeholders, three in 2016, one in November 2018 and another in March 2019, on the proposals for revising older passenger vessel standards, as well as carrying out two public consultations. MCA officials also regularly engage with individual operators on an ad hoc basis.

Railway Track: Weather

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many train journeys (a) operated by Thameslink, (b) operated by East Midlands Trains and (c) in the UK were disrupted due to buckled tracks in hot weather in 2019.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Although the temperatures seen in late July were exceptional, we recognise the impact that cancellations and alterations to services had on passengers. We are unable to provide the data requested, however, as it is not held by the DfT. The data may be held by Network Rail; we advise you contact them directly for further information or refer to their websites.

Railway Track: Weather

Mohammad Yasin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Network Rail on upgrading tracks to prevent buckling in hot weather.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government recognises passengers need the certainty of reliable and safe journeys, and is determined to work with industry to improve performance on the railway. With regard to rails buckling, Network Rail have been treating rails to enable them to cope with heat, and have been applying reflective paint to reduce the heat absorbed. Since 2003, these methods have decreased the number of rail buckling incidents by 83%. After all periods of poor weather, Network Rail undertakes a lessons process to identify actions that were successful in managing the issues and where further action and improvement is needed. In addition, Network Rail is also looking to the longer term and has in place a weather resilience and climate change strategy to ensure the infrastructure can cope with climate change and short-term periods of extreme weather. One of the top priorities for the Secretary of State and myself is to get the trains running on time, which is why we are investing a record £48bn to modernise our network, boost reliability and create a railway fit for the 21st century.

Electric Vehicles: West Midlands

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Road to Zero policy, how many electric vehicles have been registered in the last 12 months in (a) the West Midlands and (b) Birmingham.

George Freeman: The information requested is provided in the following table.Geographic AreaAll battery electric1 vehicles registered in 12 months to end-March 2019Of which were carsWest Midlands Region2,3921,977Birmingham City Council1,1601,039 Source: Department for Transport based on DVLA data 1 Battery electric vehicles refer to vehicles powered by electricity only. This does not include plug-in hybrid, hybrid, range-extended electric, or fuel cell electric vehicles. This Government’s mission is to put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles, for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040 and to end the sale of new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans by 2040. The Road to Zero Strategy sets out a clear pathway to zero emissions, to give clarity and certainty to both industry and motorists.

Electric Vehicles

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to increase the affordability of electric vehicles.

George Freeman: The Government has put in place various grant funding schemes to assist with the up-front cost of purchasing electric cars, taxis, vans and motorcycles. Grant funding schemes are also available for the installation of chargepoints in motorists’ homes, on residential streets and at work places. We have also established a favourable tax regime which rewards the cleanest vehicles. As part of our Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, we are also investing £274 million for the Faraday Battery Challenge to develop safe, cost-effective and high-performance batteries for electric vehicles.

Clean Air Zones: Birmingham

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential effect of the Birmingham clean air zone on people's health; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: The Government has not made an assessment of the potential effect of Birmingham’s Clean Air Zone on people’s health. This is a matter for the local authority as they are best placed to assess the impact of local decisions on the local population. A national assessment of the impact of the measures presented in the 2017 UK Plan for Tackling Roadside Nitrogen Dioxide Concentrations, including Clean Air Zones, is set out in the Technical Report published alongside the Plan.

Railway Stations: Access

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2019 to Question 280293, if he will publish a list of the stations that were upgraded to step-free access in control periods one to five in (a) Scotland, (b) Wales and (c) England; and what the cost was of each of those upgrades.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Stations have been upgraded by a variety of organisations, and the department does not hold this information.However, the Rail Delivery Group has created an interactive Access Map which has accessibility information including step-free access on all stations across Britain. The map can be found on the national rail website http://accessmap.nationalrail.co.uk/.

Railway Stations: Scotland

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2019 to Question 280295, if he will publish a list of all the stations that have step-free access in Scotland.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Rail Delivery Group has created an interactive Access Map which has accessibility information including step-free access on all stations across Britain, which will enable passengers to plan their journeys better. The map can be found on the national rail website http://accessmap.nationalrail.co.uk/.

Electric Vehicles: Charging Points

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress his Department has made in implementing a standardised charging system for electric vehicles.

George Freeman: The Government recognises that it is vital that quick and easy payment is provided at rapid and high-powered chargers to make ad-hoc, longer journeys fast and hassle free. In 2017, the Alternative Fuel Infrastructure Regulations included requirements that infrastructure operators had to provide ad-hoc access to public chargepoints and specified which types of connectors had to be provided as a minimum for normal and high powered chargepoints. Last year, the Government took further powers through in the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act (AEVA) to set a direction for the infrastructure market. The Act gives the Secretary of State for Transport powers to regulate technical standards of infrastructure to ensure easy compatibility with vehicles, to ensure availability of data on chargepoint locations and availability, and to require provision at motorway service areas and large fuel retailers. To improve customers’ experience of using chargepoints, the Government announced in July 2019 that it wants to see all new rapid and higher powered chargepoints provide debit or credit card payment by spring 2020. We expect the market to respond, and follow the lead of those chargepoint operators, including BP Chargemaster, the largest chargepoint operator in the UK, who have already made a commitment that they will now be providing this facility at their chargepoints. If there is insufficient progress we consider using the powers available in the Act. The Government is committed to ensuring that more chargepoints are made available, which is why the £400m Chargepoint Infrastructure Investment Fund was announced at the Autumn budget in 2017.

Dover Port: Large Goods Vehicles

Sir Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential increase in HGV traffic at the port of Dover in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Chris Heaton-Harris: DfT, alongside other government departments, continues to keep no deal planning assumptions up to date, including those relating to HGV traffic around the port of Dover. Planning assumptions have been shared with relevant stakeholders, such as the Kent Resilience Forum. Our assessment considers the extent to which new border processes, and the readiness of businesses to comply with these, could constrain flow on crossings from the port of Dover and the Channel Tunnel to France, and the implications for queueing HGV traffic approaching the port and Channel Tunnel terminal.

Dartford-Thurrock Crossing: Tolls

Sir Michael Fallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department plans to review the affordability of the Dart Charge.

George Freeman: The Department for Transport has no plans to review the affordability of the Dart Charge. The current charges for the Dartford-Thurrock Crossing were set in 2014, following an impact assessment, which took account of benefits and disadvantages to business and personal users, prior to a public consultation. The charges exist to manage demand and congestion at the Crossing The charge levels and concessions available take account of local people’s need to use the Crossing. Residents of the Boroughs of Dartford and Thurrock can pay £10 for 50 crossings, plus 20p for each additional crossing or £20 a year for unlimited use. Disabled users who are exempt from vehicle tax are also exempt from paying the Dart Charge, if they are using the same vehicle. Any Crossing user can set up an account that will allow automatic payment for each trip and a prepaid account also offers users a discount of up to 20 per cent.

Taxis: Licensing

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to set National Minimum Standards for taxi and private hire vehicle licensing including a requirement for all taxi and private hire vehicle drivers to undertake disability equality training.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Disability awareness and equality training can provide taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) drivers with the skills, knowledge and confidence to give disabled passengers the assistance they need. I encourage all licensing authorities to use their existing powers to require drivers to undertaken this in advance of its inclusion in national minimum standards in licensing. As stated in the Government response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, we will bring forward legislation when Parliamentary time allows.

Bus Services: Disability

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish the best practice guidance on disability awareness training for bus drivers.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government remains committed to publishing best practice guidance on the provision of high quality disability awareness training for bus and coach drivers, to support operators to ensure that every driver has the knowledge and skills to assist disabled passengers. We will publish the guidance later in the year and will work with the bus and coach industry to encourage its adoption.

Railways: Innovation

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to encourage the growth of new rail technologies, including hydrogen-powered trains.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department for Transport provides total funding of £70.6m per year which is dedicated to research, development and innovation in the rail industry, as well as additional investment in targeted major modernisation projects such as smart ticketing and digital signalling. Funding for general research and innovation includes projects to support the development of hydrogen-powered trains, with projects researching how they will be approved for entering service, as well as enabling the first mainline testing of a hydrogen train. The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) funds, with industry, a network of university-based centres of excellence for rail research and innovation, as well as committing £11m to a dedicated centre at the University of Leeds. BEIS also offers Industrial Strategy challenge funds for which the rail industry can bid; and has recently announced £40m to explore how the use of hydrogen can be rolled out across the UK, and £100m to enable greater supply of low carbon hydrogen for use across the economy. These funding opportunities will be important to enable hydrogen-powered trains to run on the network in the future.

Railways: North West

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps the Government is taking to promote innovation in the North West rail cluster.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The DfT is committed to promoting innovation through its rail franchise programme and is trialling a three-year pilot fund within the TransPennine Express (TPE) and the Arriva Rail North (Northern) franchises. This is aimed at supporting the development of innovations, focussing on decarbonisation, passenger improvements and capacity and must benefit wider railway and society.

Railways: Dronfield

Lee Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of journeys made from Dronfield train station to Manchester Oxford Road train station in the 2017-18 financial year.

Lee Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of journeys made from Dronfield train station to Liverpool Lime Street train station in the 2017-18 financial year.

Lee Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of journeys made from Dronfield train station to Manchester Piccadilly train station in the 2017-18 financial year.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Passenger demand flows between specific stations and on specific routes are not publicly available as this data is commercially sensitive. However, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publish data on the estimates of the total number of passengers entering and exiting each station in Great Britain. Total number of station entries and exits, 2017-18 financial yearStation nameEntries and exitsDronfield202,622Manchester Oxford Road8,558,308Liverpool Lime Street16,032,460Manchester Piccadilly27,724,962 Additional years are available at the following link:https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/usage/estimates-of-station-usage/

Portsmouth International Port

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the reimbursement mechanism is for the recovery of costs incurred at Portsmouth International Port from preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Heaton-Harris: On 30 August, as part of a £30m investment package for ports, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced a targeted £5m fund for Local Resilience Forums (LRF) for traffic management improvements on roads around key maritime ports outside Kent. Hampshire and the Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum, which includes Portsmouth City Council, is eligible for up to £1.25m from this fund in recognition of the high volume of accompanied freight traffic between Portsmouth International Port and EU ports. The LRF funding could be used for reimbursement of the council’s capital works on local roads, provided that it can demonstrate that the works were undertaken to directly mitigate the potential traffic impacts of a no-deal Brexit. This funding from DfT is in addition to funding for councils and LRFs provided by MHCLG to support their development of robust Brexit plans and continued preparedness activities.

Department for Transport: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Travel Costs are recorded separately for each Minister's office but include travel by officials as well as for the Ministers. To obtain the information in the format requested would be at disproportionate cost as it would require multiple searches of various systems based on the method of travel, how the travel was booked, and which official booked it.

Great Northern Railway Line

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to support the transfer of the Great Northern Rail Line from Govia Thameslink to Transport for London.

Chris Heaton-Harris: A decision on the transfer of these services will be dependent on a successful business case being made and will also have to be aligned with the Department’s plan for the future of TSGN. This plan will have to take into account the recommendations of the Williams Rail Review, which reports in the autumn.

Taxis: Training

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made on delivering disability and equality training to taxi and minicab drivers.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Disability awareness and equality training can provide taxi and private hire vehicle (PHV) drivers with the skills, knowledge and confidence to give disabled passengers the assistance they need. I encourage all licensing authorities to use their existing powers to require drivers to undertake it in advance of its inclusion in national minimum standards. As stated in the Government response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, we will bring forward legislation when Parliamentary time allows.

Bus Services: Guide Dogs

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish his Department's its guidance for bus operators on the quality of training in relation to the EU Bus and Coach Regulations 2013 on making bus transport more accessible to guide-dog owners.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government remains committed to publishing best practice guidance on the provision of high quality disability awareness training for bus and coach drivers, to support operators to ensure that every driver has the knowledge and skills to assist disabled passengers. We will publish the guidance later in the year and will work with the bus and coach industry to encourage its adoption.

Road Traffic Control: Kent

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment she has made of the potential environmental impact of Operation Brock in the event that the UK leave the EU without a deal.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Environmental assessments have been undertaken for Operation Brock. Specifically, by Highways England for measures on the M20 and by this Department for the Special Development Order for Manston lorry park.

Bus Services: Disability

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Inclusive Transport Strategy, published in July 2018, what recent progress his Department has made on developing a monitoring and enforcement framework for mandatory bus driver disability awareness training.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department for Transport publishes annual bus statistics which include an assessment of the proportion of operators requiring relevant staff to undertake disability awareness training consistent with relevant legislation. The most recent release indicated that 98% of staff worked for bus operators that mandated this training. The Department continues to engage with industry and regulators to ensure a proportionate approach to enforcement is followed.

Road Traffic Offences: Foreign Nationals

Maggie Throup: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to recover unpaid fines from foreign nationals who commit motoring offences whilst visiting the UK.

George Freeman: The Police have a range of options when enforcing against road traffic offenders. If a driver is pulled over at the road side, a Fixed Penalty Notice can be issued on-the-spot for a range of offences as an alternative to prosecution.

Electric Scooters

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will bring forward legislative proposals to permit the use of electric scooters on public roads.

George Freeman: The Department recognises that people want to take advantage of the opportunities lightweight personal vehicles such as electric scooters can offer. Ministers are actively looking at ways to provide a framework for UK leadership in transport technology and innovation, and safe and effective regulation. The Future of Mobility: Urban Strategy, published on 19 March 2019 includes a Regulatory Review to address the challenges of ensuring our transport infrastructure and regulation are fit for the future. The Strategy can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-mobility-urban-strategy  The Department will use the Regulatory Review to examine current legislation and determine from the evidence what is needed to make the necessary changes for a safe and healthy future. One strand of this will look at options for enabling micromobility devices (such as electric scooters), and a consultation will be issued in due course.

Railways: Temperature

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department plans to take help avoid disruption to railway services due to high temperatures.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Transport Secretary recognises passengers need the certainty of reliable and safe journeys, and is determined to work with industry to improve performance on the railway. We are committed to spending over £48 billion on the railway over the next five years, with an emphasis on increasing the pace of renewing outdated infrastructure to improve reliability. Network Rail is already treating rails to enable them to cope with heat, and has been applying reflective paint to reduce the heat absorbed. Since 2003, these methods have decreased the number of rail buckling incidents by 83%. In addition, Network Rail is also looking to the longer term and has in place a weather resilience and climate change strategy to ensure the infrastructure can cope with climate change and short-term periods of extreme weather.

Crewe-Holyhead Railway Line

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of implementing infrastructure improvements to the rail line from Crewe to Holyhead to enhance regional connectivity with the High Speed two rail line.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government has funded recent major signalling and track renewals to improve reliability on the North Wales Coast Line. Network Rail’s Welsh Route Study, published in March 2016, identified options for improving the North Wales main line. The Government has recently funded a strategic outline business case for journey time improvements on the North Wales line. Further development will be considered for progression through the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline. The Government’s proposals for HS2 do not preclude development of opportunities for future service enhancements including on the Chester and North Wales lines.

Crewe-Holyhead Railway Line

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of electrifying the railway line from Crewe to Holyhead and splitting High Speed 2 trains at Crewe with part of those split trains serving North Wales via Chester.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Network Rail Welsh Route Study, published in March 2016, identified options for improving the North Wales main line but the rail industry has not identified a robust business case for electrification of the North Wales Main Line to Holyhead. The Government’s proposals for 400m platforms at Crewe do not preclude development of opportunities for future service enhancements including those on the Chester and North Wales lines.

Bus Services: Disability

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when his Department plans to publish guidance on disability equality training for bus drivers.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government remains committed to publishing best practice guidance on the provision of high quality disability awareness training for bus and coach drivers, to support operators to ensure that every driver has the knowledge and skills to assist disabled passengers. We will publish the guidance later in the year and will work with the bus and coach industry to encourage its adoption.

Bus Services: Disability

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department has taken to meet the Inclusive Transport Strategy target to develop a monitoring and enforcement framework for mandatory bus driver disability awareness training by spring 2019.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Department for Transport publishes annual bus statistics which include an assessment of the proportion of operators requiring relevant staff to undertake disability awareness training consistent with relevant legislation. The most recent release indicated that 98% of staff worked for bus operators that mandated this training. The Department continues to engage with industry and regulators to ensure a proportionate approach to enforcement is followed.

Large Goods Vehicles: EU Countries

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria his Department uses to allocate European Council of Ministers for Transport international driving permits to UK road hauliers that have applied for them.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The criteria used for allocating international road haulage permits are set out in the International Road Transport Permits (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (SI 2018/1204) and were designed to deliver on the principles of obtaining the greatest economic benefit from the permits, protecting the interests of UK hauliers, and applying a fair and consistent process.

Department for Transport: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The information requested can only be provided at disproportionate cost. The Department for Transport has delegated estate management matters to Executive Agencies for reasons of operational effectiveness. The information requested is not held in the format sought and obtaining this for the central department, and Executive Agencies, would require a manual trawl through local systems and individual transactions which would exceed the appropriate cost limit.

Department for Transport: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Travel Costs are recorded separately for each Minister's office but include travel by officials as well as for the Ministers. To obtain the information in the format requested would be at disproportionate cost as it would require multiple searches of various systems based on the method of travel, how the travel was booked, and which official booked it.

Railways: Lichfield

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of the change to train services at Lichfield Trent Valley (LTV) rail station after the award of the West Coast Main Line rail franchise to First Trenitalia on (a) timetabling, (b) passenger comfort and (c) capacity; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The West Coast Partnership operator will introduce brand new trains to replace the Voyager fleet and the Pendolino fleet will be fully refurbished, improving reliability, WIFI connectivity, luggage space and information systems. The introduction of new trains will also increase the number of seats available for passengers across the route, including from Lichfield Trent Valley. At least the same number of West Coast services will call at Lichfield Train Valley as today.

Traffic Lights

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what analysis his Department has undertaken on the effect of the installation of mobile traffic lights on traffic disruption; and what assessment he has made of the merits of requiring contractors to start and finish work without leaving traffic lights unattended.

George Freeman: Local highway authorities are responsible for managing the local road network and for reducing the impact of road works on congestion. The majority now do this through the use of street works permit schemes. The Department issues advice and guidance on both the effective operation of permit schemes, and on the correct and safe use of both stop/go signs and portable traffic signals via the ‘Safety at street and road works code of practice.’ There is no blanket requirement for portable traffic signals to be manned and portable signals can be appropriate in many environments, 24 hours a day, and where works are no more than 300 metres long. It is for each local authority to consider the most effective way of managing traffic when they assess permit applications. To help reduce the impact of street works on congestion, we are currently consulting on an amended street works permit condition that would require temporary traffic lights to be removed no later than 4 hours after a job has been completed.

Large Goods Vehicles: Kent

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on congestion in Kent of (a) 50 per cent and (b) 85 per cent of HGVs not being ready for French customs in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Heaton-Harris: An assessment of potential traffic disruption in Kent as a result of EU Member State checks has been produced, under a range of different assumptions for trader readiness. These have been shared with relevant partners including the Kent Resilience Forum, in order to support their preparation work. There are already well progressed plans in place to manage any traffic disruption in Kent in the event of a no-deal scenario. Operation Brock has been developed with the Kent Resilience Forum to ensure that the M20 will be kept open and traffic will continue to flow in both directions at times of cross-Channel disruption. If hauliers have the correct documentation, there should be no disruption at the UK-France border, although this will in part depend on how the French border authorities implement checks. Government is implementing a multi-channel communications campaign to ensure hauliers are able to operate and trade can continue to move as freely as possible between the UK and Europe. Please note the, ‘Transporting goods between the UK and EU in a no-deal Brexit: guidance for hauliers’ has been published today and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transporting-goods-between-the-uk-and-eu-in-a-no-deal-brexit-guidance-for-hauliers

A303: Stonehenge

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the potential for damage to the Stonehenge World Heritage Site of improving the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down.

George Freeman: Highways England's proposals for improving the A303 between Amesbury and Berwick Down have been fully assessed. This includes extensive archaeological studies and assessments to provide evidence of the benefits that the scheme would deliver for the World Heritage Site. The scheme proposals are currently being examined by a panel of independent planning inspectors. They will report their findings and recommendations to the Secretary of State before he makes a decision on whether to grant development consent.

A303: Stonehenge

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the estimated cost is of the A303 Stonehenge improvement scheme.

George Freeman: The estimated cost is £1.7 billion (or £1.92 billion including VAT).

Electric Vehicles

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to bring forward legislative proposals to permit the use of (a) e-scooters and (b) segways on roads.

George Freeman: The Department recognises that people want to take advantage of the opportunities lightweight, personal vehicles such as electric scooters and segways can offer. Ministers are actively looking at ways to provide a framework for UK leadership in transport technology and innovation, and safe and effective regulation. The Future of Mobility: Urban Strategy, published on 19 March 2019 includes a Regulatory Review to address the challenges of ensuring our transport infrastructure and regulation are fit for the future. The Strategy can be found at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/future-of-mobility-urban-strategy  The Department will use the Regulatory Review to examine current legislation and determine from the evidence what is needed to make the necessary changes for a safe and healthy future. One strand of this will look at options for enabling micromobility devices (such as electric scooters and segways), and a consultation will be issued in due course.

Department for Transport: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings his Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Heaton-Harris: DfT supports MHCLG’s Brexit discussions with local authority leaders and local authority Chief Executives to outline its work on Brexit preparedness and to address transport queries. No meetings have taken place with Bristol City Council, but DfT is directly engaging with Avon and Somerset Local Resilience Forum, which includes emergency responders, councils and other public services.

Bus Services: Bicycles

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans has he to discuss with bus operators a device to allow buses to carry bicycles by means of an external rack either in front or behind the vehicle.

George Freeman: It is for individual bus operators to take decisions on whether to fit racks for bicycles on their services. While I currently have no plans to discuss this, I would encourage bus operators to consider fitting such equipment where it is safe and legal to do so.

Official Cars

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many cars the Government Car Service plans to purchase in the next five years; and what proportion will be (a) petrol and diesel, (b) hybrid electric and (c) fully electric.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government Car Service (GCS) will be replacing cars as they become due for renewal with ultra-low emission and zero emission vehicles over the next five years.Below is the planned replacement based upon the current budget allocation:2020 - (a) Petrol x 7, Diesel x0 (b) Petrol hybrid x 4 (c) Electric x 42021- (a) Petrol x 3, Diesel x 0 (b) Petrol hybrid x 2 (c) Electric x 42022 - (a) Petrol x 0, Diesel x 0 (b) Petrol hybrid x 0 (c) Electric x 72023- (a) Petrol x 0, Diesel x 0 (b) Petrol hybrid x 0 (c) Electric x7 2024 - (a) Petrol x0, Diesel x 0 (b) Petrol hybrid x 0 (c) Electric x 7

Heathrow Airport: Railways

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost of the Western Rail Link to Heathrow is; and whether the project is fully funded.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government supports the development of a Western Rail Link to Heathrow, subject to a satisfactory business case and the agreement of acceptable terms with the Heathrow Aviation industry. The Western Rail Link to Heathrow is included in the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline, and in line with our normal rail investment process, the scheme is fully funded to its next business case review point.

Heathrow Airport: Railways

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what projections his Department has made for passenger numbers for the Western Rail Link to Heathrow.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Alongside expansion of Heathrow Airport, the Western Rail Link to Heathrow is forecast to carry over 2 million airport passengers to and from Heathrow Airport, as well as a significant number of employees of Heathrow Airport and non-airport rail passengers travelling between London and locations west of Heathrow Airport.

Cycling and Walking: Finance

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has plans to increase the level of funding allocated to (a) walking and (b) cycling to meet Government targets for levels of activity in those areas.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Decisions on future funding for cycling and walking will be made as part of the multi-year Spending Review, now planned for 2020.

Large Goods Vehicles: EU Countries

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many applications his Department has received from UK hauliers for European Council of Ministers for Transport international driving permits; how many of those licences are available; and how many of those licences have been issued.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The UK had an allocation of 1,610 annual European Conference of Minister of Transport (ECMT) permits and 4,824 short-term permits available for hauliers to use in 2019. In preparation for leaving the EU in March 2019, 2,145 UK goods vehicle operator licence holders applied for 11,976 ECMT annual permits. 774 annual permits were subsequently issued, with many hauliers declining to take up their allocation. As of 30 August 2019, ECMT permits for use in November and December 2019 are available to purchase.  If we leave the EU without a deal on 31 October 2019, most journeys will be allowed until at least 31 December 2019 under an EU contingency regulation. A small proportion of journeys are not covered by the regulation. The European Commission has on 4 September 2019 published a proposal to extend the regulation until 31 July 2020. The proposal, when combined with the ECMT system, would ensure that 99% of trips to the EU could continue to operate as they currently do for the first four months of the Regulation.  UK hauliers who need to transit the EU/EEA to third countries or who carry out three cross-trade movements within seven days can now apply for short-term permits via the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency’s digital service for journeys during November and December 2019. The UK also has historic bilateral agreements and it is our view that the majority of them would revive in an absence of an EU wide measure.

Large Goods Vehicles: EU Countries

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the (a) UK road haulage industry (b) the workforce of that industry and (c) consumers of his Department's criteria for allocating European Council of Ministers Transport permits.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The criteria used for allocating European Conference of Ministers of Transport road haulage permits were designed to deliver on the principles of obtaining the greatest economic benefit from the permits, protecting the interests of UK hauliers, and applying a fair and consistent process. The Government has been clear that is does not intend to rely solely on ECMT permits if the UK leaves the EU without a deal. The EU has agreed a regulation on basic road connectivity that guarantees rights for UK hauliers to continue providing services between the UK and the EU until at least 31 December 2019 meaning that most haulage trips to EU or EEA countries will not be affected. The European Commission has on 4 September 2019 published a proposal to extend the regulation until 31 July 2020. The proposal, when combined with the ECMT system, would ensure that 99% of trips to the EU could continue to operate as they currently do for the first four months of the Regulation. A small proportion of operators may require ECMT permits for transit to third countries during November and December 2019 and these can be purchased from the DVSA. The UK also has historic bilateral agreements and it is our view that the majority of them would revive in an absence of an EU wide measure.

Parking Offences: Cycleways

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to make parking over a recognised cycle lane an offence.

George Freeman: The Secretary of State for Transport has no plans to bring forward such legislation. Parking within advisory or mandatory cycle lanes is already an offence where parking restrictions, which could also include loading restrictions, are in place at such locations, and have been indicated by traffic signs, yellow lines and kerb markings as appropriate.

Buses: Exhaust Emissions

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many and what proportion of buses in England have been retrofitted using funding from the Clean Bus Technology Fund since 2015 to September 2019.

George Freeman: 344 buses have been retrofitted using funding from the 2015 Clean Bus Technology Fund (CBTF) and to date 1,677 have been retrofitted under the 2017-19 CBTF. There are approximately 35,000 buses in the English bus fleet, meaning around 5.8% of the total fleet has been retrofitted between 2015 and September 2019 through the CBTF. A further 2,793 buses are scheduled to be retrofitted from the most recent round of funding. Many buses are Euro VI or better and are already of a standard that does not require retrofitting in order to avoid Clean Air Zone charges.

Buses: Exhaust Emissions

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much funding has been provided by local authorities in England that are in receipt of funding from the Clean Bus Technology Fund to (a) Go-Ahead, (b) Arriva, (c) Stagecoach and (d) FirstGroup.

George Freeman: Funding through the Clean Bus Technology Fund is paid to local authorities who then enter their own contracts with bus companies.

Department for Transport: Brexit

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings his Department has had with Leeds City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Heaton-Harris: DfT supports MHCLG’s Brexit discussions with local authority leaders and local authority Chief Executives to outline its work on Brexit preparedness and to address transport queries. No meetings have taken place with Leeds City Council, but DfT is directing engaging with West Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, which includes emergency responders, councils and other public services.

Tugboats

David Duguid: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) the provision of and (b) intercept times for emergency towing vessels around the coast of the UK.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) has commissioned a study to review the risks presented to and from shipping within the UK Exclusive Economic Zone and to assess the availability and adequacy of emergency towage arrangements. An analysis of Hazard Contact time and Intercept time is integral to this study. The study is being undertaken by Fraser-Nash Consultancy Ltd, and the final report will be delivered to the MCA later this month. Further distribution of the report is anticipated in the Autumn.

East Midlands Rail Franchise: Catering

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions his (a) Ministers and (b) officials of his Department have had with representatives from Abellio on Rail Gourmet’s decision not to pay the Living Wage on the East Midlands franchise.

Chris Heaton-Harris: No discussion has occurred with Ministers. However, following a similar question from Grahame Morris, MP (and the response provided), officials have since raised this issue with East Midlands Railway.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: Wales

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the benefits to Wales of providing interchanges to the High Speed 2 network at Crewe and Chester.

Paul Maynard: The department’s analysis shows that passengers in North Wales will benefit from an HS2 interchange at Crewe, with shorter journey times to London and improved cross-country journey times. An HS2 interchange at Chester is not feasible without electrification of the line from there to Crewe. The Network Rail Welsh Route Study, published in March 2016, identified options for improving the North Wales main line but the rail industry has not identified a robust business case for electrification of the line from Crewe to Chester. The Government’s proposals for HS2 do not preclude development of opportunities for future service enhancements including those on the Chester and North Wales lines.

Cycling: Finance

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the oral evidence of the former Minister of State to the Transport Committee on active travel on 1 May 2019, what his policy is on increasing Government funding for improvements to cycling.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government is keen to promote cycling and understands this involves increasing funding. Decisions on future funding will be made as part of the multi-year Spending Review, which is planned for 2020.

Teesside Airport

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings his Department has had with Teesside International Airport on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department has regular meetings with UK airports and their trade body representatives and we encourage aviation stakeholders to contact us directly if they have any specific concerns that they feel have not been covered in these meetings. The UK and EU have both put in place measures to ensure that flights can continue in any EU Exit scenario. This gives industry certainty and the public the assurance needed to book and fly with confidence.

High Speed Two

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the contractual (a) terms and (b) liabilities HS2 Ltd has with its (i) contractors and (ii) consultants in advance of the decision to review High Speed Two.

Paul Maynard: The Government has charged Douglas Oakervee to consider these matters as part of the Review that is now underway. This will consider its benefits and impacts; affordability and efficiency; deliverability; and scope and phasing. The terms of reference include consideration of the direct cost of reprioritising, cancelling or de-scoping the project, including contractual penalties and supply chain impact. The Government will consider the Review’s findings in the autumn.

South Eastern Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what additional costs were incurred to the public purse as a result of the cancellation of the South Eastern rail franchise.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department has not assessed the additional costs for cancelling the competition but they are envisaged to be small.

South Eastern Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate has he made of potential bidding costs companies will be entitled to claim from his Department as a result of the decision to cancel the South Eastern Rail franchise competition.

Chris Heaton-Harris: As set out in the Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the South Eastern Franchise, the Secretary of State reserves the right to cancel the competition and he has elected to exercise that right in respect of the South Eastern Franchise competition.Given this, and as particularised at paragraph 1.9 of the ITT, the Department does not accept that bidders are entitled to any reimbursement of their bid costs.

South Eastern Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what meetings he has had held with (a) Govia and (b) Abellio on the cancellation of the South Eastern rail franchise competition.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Officials have met representatives from Govia and Abellio to discuss feedback on the quality of their bids.

South Eastern Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timeframe is for the introduction of new rolling stock on the south eastern rail route following the decision to cancel the franchise competition.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Following the cancellation of the South Eastern Franchise competition, the Department is developing proposals for the franchise. This will include routes to increase rolling stock capacity.

South Eastern Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions took place between his Department and the Government Rail Review chair Keith Williams prior to his Department's decision to cancel the South Eastern rail franchise competition.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Since the Review started in September 2018, Keith Williams has held regular meetings with the Department.

Railways

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the Initial Industry Advice received from the Rail Delivery Group in January 2017 as part of the Government’s planning process for the development of control period 6 from (a) 2019 to (b) 2024.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Initial Industry Advice is provided on a “private and confidential” basis. I therefore do not intend to publish the Initial Industry Advice.

West Coast Partnership Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions took place between his Department and Government's Rail Review chair Keith Williams prior to his Department's decision to award the West Coast Partnership franchise to a consortium of First Group and Trenitalia on 14 August 2019.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Since the Review started in September 2018, Keith Williams has held regular meetings with the Department. Mr Williams has made clear that his Review must not stop or delay investment and innovation.

East Midlands Rail Franchise

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what (a) meetings and (b) discussions took place between his Department and the Government Rail Review Chair Keith Williams prior to the decision to award the East Midlands Trains franchise to Abellio on 10 April 2019.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Since the Review started in September 2018, Keith Williams has held regular meetings with the Department.

Heathrow Airport

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect of potential changes to the investment grade credit rating of Heathrow Airport on the (a) airport’s expansion plans and (b) provisions of the Aviation National Policy Statement.

Paul Maynard: The Government is clear that the Northwest Runway scheme will be financed in its entirety by the private sector. As a private company, decisions that could impact its credit rating are a matter for Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) and its investors. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), as the independent economic regulator, has a duty to ensure that HAL can finance its airport operations. In its CAP1832 working paper on financial resilience and ring-fencing, published in August 2019, the CAA considered that the potential for a regulatory obligation on HAL to maintain an investment grade credit rating was worthy of further exploration. Comments from stakeholders are invited by 11 October 2019 ahead of a further working paper on the matter. The Government, with our independent expert advisers, and the CAA have conducted assurance work on the finance and affordability of HAL’s expansions proposals. This work has concluded that, so far as can be assessed at this stage of the process, and assuming current market conditions, HAL is in principle able to privately finance expansion without government support.

Transport: Construction

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to conduct a review of investment grade credit rating among those companies engaged in construction projects in the transport sector.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Following the collapse of Carillion in 2018, DfT with Cabinet Office have worked to improve the due diligence and financial assessments during all procurement leading to contract awards. As per the Cabinet Office outsourcing policy the financial and operational performance is also monitored during the life of the contract.

Heathrow Airport

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the community impact consultation being conducted by Heathrow Airport on its expansion plans.

Paul Maynard: Heathrow Airport Limited are currently undertaking a public consultation on their plans to develop a Northwest Runway and associated infrastructure involving 40 events and sending information to approximately 2.7 million households. This is a statutory consultation, which should be carried out in accordance with the requirements of the Planning Act 2008 and associated legislation and guidance. The assessment of the adequacy of the consultation, being conducted by Heathrow Airport Limited on its expansion plans, is something which the Secretary of State would consider as part of making a decision on whether or not to accept an application for development consent by that company. In making that decision the Secretary of State is statutorily bound to have regard to the consultation report accompanying the application, as well as other matters, such as any responses from local authority consultees about the adequacy of the consultation. That report has not been produced yet and the consultation is ongoing. It would be premature to comment on the adequacy of Heathrow Airport Limited’s consultation at this time, but it is something that would be carefully considered in the event of an application for an order granting development consent being made.

Rail Review

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Government Rail Review, how much his Department (a) has paid Keith Williams and (b) plans to pay Keith Williams in total.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Keith Williams is not paid for his work on the Rail Review.

Rail Review

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the (a) dates of and (b) attendees at meetings held by Keith Williams as part of the Government Rail Review.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Yes; a list of Keith Williams’ meetings with key stakeholders will be published in due course.

Rail Review

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the total cost to the public purse of the Williams Rail Review.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Williams Rail Review is funded from the Department for Transport’s existing budget. Neither Keith Williams nor the members of the Expert Challenge Panel are being paid.

Railway Stations: Staff

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish the data he used as part of a workforce planning session referred to by the Under Secretary of State for Transport in his oral evidence to the Transport Select Committee on 8 May on Train Operating Companies’ staffing levels at stations.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department does not publish any official statistics on train operating companies’ workforces. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) publish information on the total number of employees for each train operating company in Great Britain. The ORR’s website can be found at: https://orr.gov.uk/.

Train Operating Companies: Staff

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish workforce data showing the (a) headcount and (b) the full-time equivalence of staffing levels of each train operating company.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Office of Rail and Road publish information on the total number of employees for each train operating company in Great Britain. The Department does not publish any official statistics on Train operating companies’ workforce. Total number of employees, 2018-19Train Operating Company Number of Employeesc2c690Caledonian Sleeper174Chiltern852CrossCountry1,915East Midlands Trains2,460Govia Thameslink Railway7,276Grand Central193Great Western Railway6,343Greater Anglia3,103Hull Trains122London North Eastern Railway3,012London Overground1,451Merseyrail1,206Northern6,183ScotRail5,168Southeastern4,410South Western Railway5,177TfL Rail1,401TfW Rail2,293Transpennine Express1,258Virgin Trains West Coast3,724West Midlands Trains2,834 Additional years are available at the following link:https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/compendia/toc-key-statistics/

Railway Stations: Staff

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of railway stations staffed on a (a) full-time and (b) part-time basis.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department for Transport does not hold this information. Train operating companies are responsible for station operations and are therefore best placed to determine the appropriate level of staffing for each station.

Railway Stations: Staff

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the average number of hours is that part-time staffed railway stations are staffed.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department for Transport does not hold this information. Train operating companies are responsible for station operations and are therefore best placed to determine the appropriate level of staffing for each station.

Railway Stations: Staff

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many railway stations are unstaffed.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department for Transport does not hold this information. Train operating companies are responsible for station operations and are therefore best placed to determine the appropriate level of staffing for each station.

Train Operating Companies: Staff

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the proportion of train operating companies’ workforce that is employed by outsourced companies.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Office of Rail and Road publish information on the total number of employees for each train operating company in Great Britain. The Department does not publish any official statistics on Train operating companies’ workforce. Total number of employees, 2018-19 Train Operating Company Number of Employeesc2c690Caledonian Sleeper174Chiltern852CrossCountry1,915East Midlands Trains2,460Govia Thameslink Railway7,276Grand Central193Great Western Railway6,343Greater Anglia3,103Hull Trains122London North Eastern Railway3,012London Overground1,451Merseyrail1,206Northern6,183ScotRail5,168Southeastern4,410South Western Railway5,177TfL Rail1,401TfW Rail2,293Transpennine Express1,258Virgin Trains West Coast3,724West Midlands Trains2,834 Additional years are available at the following link:https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/compendia/toc-key-statistics/

Train Operating Companies: Zero Hours Contracts

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of people employed by (a) train operating companies and (b) outsourcing companies on zero-hours contracts.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Office of Rail and Road publish information on the total number of employees for each train operating company in Great Britain. The Department does not publish any official statistics on Train operating companies’ workforce.

Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Licensing

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the (a) average and (b) median waiting time is for a person whose heavy goods vehicle licence is subject to a medical review in each of the last five years.

George Freeman: The table below shows (a) the average time and (b) the median time it took the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency to issue a driving licence to Group 2 (lorry or bus) drivers who were subject to a medical investigation. Information on the median time for 2015 to 2017 is not available.2015-162016-172017-182018-192019-20 (to 3 Sept)(a) Average time days6143373334  (b)Median timen/an/a151716

Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Licensing

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many medical staff are employed by the DVLA to carry out medical reviews of people with heavy goods vehicle licences.

George Freeman: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) employs 99 staff, including three nurses, who exclusively deal with medical cases from Group 2 (lorry or bus) drivers. In addition, the DVLA employs 35 doctors, who deal with the most complex medical cases for drivers of all vehicles.

Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Licensing

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the DVLA’s target time is for carrying out a medical review of a person’s heavy goods vehicle license; and how many and what proportion of those reviews met that target in each of the last five years.

George Freeman: In cases where a medical condition is identified, the DVLA will carry out an investigation. The length of time taken to carry out an investigation depends on the medical condition involved and whether information is needed from medical professionals. The target is to complete 90 per cent of all medical investigations within 90 working days. The table below shows the figures for the number and proportion of Group 2 medical cases that met the target in the last five years. 2015-162016-172017-182018-192019-20 (to 3 Sept)Number within target73,40275,11472,42291,76133,340Proportion within target81.90%88.00%87.9%90.94%90.35%

Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Licensing

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, in what circumstances would the DVLA seek a medical review of a person’s heavy goods vehicle license.

George Freeman: All drivers are required by law to notify the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) at any time about the onset or worsening of a medical condition affecting safe driving. When a driver first applies for a Group 2 (lorry or bus) licence they must submit a medical report regarding their fitness to drive which must be completed by a doctor. Group 2 licences are valid for five years. At each renewal, drivers under the age of 45 must make a declaration about whether or not they suffer from a medical condition that may affect their fitness to drive. Drivers renewing their driving entitlement at the age of 45 and over must include a medical report completed by a doctor. At the age of 65, renewals are required annually and must be supported by a doctor. The DVLA will investigate a person’s fitness to drive if an application, report or a third party notification indicates that they may have a medical condition that affects safe driving.

Taxis: Audio Equipment

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate his Department made of the number of drivers of private hire vehicles using a microphone whilst in transit.

George Freeman: The Department has not made an estimate of the number of private hire vehicle drivers using a microphone whilst in transit.

Railways: Fares

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the equity of the most recent rise in rail ticket prices.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government does understand the concern about the cost of some rail fares and the impact that this can have on people’s budgets. This is why the Government has ensured that regulated rail fares can rise by no more than inflation for the last six years. While this change is unwelcome, it is not fair to ask people who do not use trains to pay more for those who do. Taxpayers already subsidise the network by more than £4bn a year – (54% of our transport budget is spent on the 2% of journeys that rail accounts for).

Railways: Woking

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of railway services between London and Woking.

Chris Heaton-Harris: South Western Railways’s (SWR) Franchise Agreement contains provisions that incentivises SWR to improve its own performance, and to work jointly with Network Rail. Challenging targets for performance have been set and where performance falls below expected levels, SWR is required to invest additional sums of money into initiatives to address the causes of the poor performance. This has been the case in the first two years of the Franchise, where targets were not met. My officials continue to closely monitor SWR’s performance and are currently in the process of contracting a Remedial Agreement plan.

M25: Noise

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to reduce noise on the M25 between junctions 10 and 11.

George Freeman: Currently Highways England has a programme to replace the joints between the concrete slabs between junctions 9 and 11. This work is being done to ensure the road surface is maintained in good condition, but it should also help to reduce noise from the road surface. Highways England is also carrying out trials to test materials and techniques which could help to reduce road noise from concrete surfacing on the M25 network. This trial is being carried out on the M1 motorway southbound between junctions 5 and 6. This trial is due to finish in 2022 and the findings will be used to develop our long-term strategy for managing concrete road surfaces in the south east. The trial does include a period of accelerated testing on other parts of the strategic road network before 2022, and Highways England will keep this under review. Highways England will monitor the condition and safety of the strategic network regularly and the surface of the M25 between junctions 10 and 11 is inspected weekly. Any safety critical defects will be repaired within 24 hours with a permanent repair completed within 28 days.

Railways: Woking

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will take steps to require train companies operating services from Woking station into London to compensate passengers in instances of a reduced service over an extended period of time.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Compensation is not offered to rail passengers during instances of a reduced service. However, when things go wrong, and passengers are unable to make informed decisions about their ticket purchases, for example due to unannounced timetable changes, passengers are entitled to claim a refund. The South Western Railway (SWR) Passenger's Charter informs passengers of the amount of compensation they may claim back for a delay or cancellation. Compensation is measured against the timetable in operation on the day of travel. Recently the SWR timetable has had to be amended to mitigate the impact of the RMT strikes, and SWR are required to publicise these changes in advance of the day in question. If delays occur on the day compared to the temporary timetable in place, then passengers will be entitled to claim Delay Repay compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more on SWR.

Railways: Compensation

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it his policy to extend the compensation package to rail season ticket holders for delays of under 30 minutes.

Chris Heaton-Harris: We are working with train operators to roll out Delay Repay 15 (DR15) which entitles all passengers, including season ticket holders, who have been delayed by 15-29 minutes to compensation worth 25% of the ticket price. Today, over 70% of journeys on DfT franchises now have DR15 available to them, including passengers on South Western Railway. This forms part of government’s commitment to significantly improving compensation for passengers when things go wrong.

Motorways

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to give advance warning to motorists of lane closures and delays on motorways; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: Real-time closures and delays are publicised in a variety of ways, the most direct being via roadside variable message signs. Delays associated with road works or incidents are signed for strategically. This means travellers are given advanced warning and opportunity to make decisions about their journey. Real-time closures are publicised on the Traffic England website and via Twitter feeds. Lane closures are signed for within two junctions of the start of the roadworks. Planned closures are listed on the Traffic England website and mobile app, seven days in advance. Information is also sent out to interested stakeholders, twice daily; this is also available to download from the Highways England website. They are also publicised via regional twitter feeds, and various press releases.

Railways: Theft

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many thefts of passenger property on the rail network went unresolved over the last 12 months for which figures are available; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Heaton-Harris: There were 15,337 recorded thefts of passenger property on the railway network in England and Wales during 2018-19.British Transport Police does not have a definition for unresolved crimes. The outcomes of the recorded thefts of passenger property in 18-19 are:Charged/ SummonsedOut of court (formal)Out of court (informal)Investigation Complete - No Suspect IdentifiedEvidential Difficulties, victim does not support actionEvidential Difficulties: Suspect Identified, Victim Supports ActionProsecution prevented or not in the Public InterestTaken into considerationAction undertaken by another body/agencyNot yet assigned an outcome24211313,5104991041552946

Railways: Crime

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many crimes have been reported on the rail network in England and Wales in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and what plans he has to reduce crime on the rail network.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Reported crime figures on the railways in Great Britain over the last 5 years are set out below:2014-15: 46,6882015-16: 48,7182016-17: 52,2352017-18: 60,8672018-19: 68,313 The Government is committed to reducing crime, anti-social behaviour and the fear of crime wherever it occurs in the transport system. We want to see more and more people using public transport - one of the key ways of encouraging this is to make sure it is a safe option. The Department works with the British Transport Police (BTP), including on joint initiatives such as the secure stations scheme, to tackle crime on the railways in Great Britain. Under their franchise agreements, Train Operating Companies are required to work with BTP to manage and reduce railway crime. A number of campaigns and initiatives have been undertaken to encourage victims to report crime to BTP and help to improve confidence in the police. Increased reporting has been a contributory factor in the recent rises in reported crime.

Railways: Surrey

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions he has had with representatives of rail franchises that operate in Surrey on reliability of services.

Chris Heaton-Harris: There are regular discussions between Departmental Officials and Franchised Train Operators. Operational performance is discussed at contractual performance meetings, held at least every four weeks.

Public Transport: Disability

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to make public transport more inclusive and accessible for disabled children and their families.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government is committed to ensuring disabled people of all ages have the same access to transport and opportunities to travel as everyone else. In July 2018 the Department published the Inclusive Transport Strategy. Its ambition is to create a transport system that provides equal access for disabled people by 2030, and to enable disabled people to travel confidently, easily and without extra cost. In July 2019, the Department reported to Parliament on the progress it had made in delivering the many commitments set out in the Strategy.

Roll-on Roll-off Ships

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish an update on his Department’s contingency planning for the roll-on roll-off ferries sector after 31 October.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many bids were submitted to the freight capacity framework agreement tender; and if he will make a statement.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the minimum number of suppliers required to make the Freight Capacity Framework Agreement viable for the 48 month duration.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost to the public purse is of preparing the Invitation to Tender (ITT) for the Freight Capacity Framework Agreement; and when his Department started work on that ITT.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many requests his Department received for assistance in the preparation of tenders for the Freight Capacity Framework Agreement.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many companies have written to his Department to explain why they have not submitted a tender to become a member of the Freight Capacity Framework Agreement; and if he will place copies of such correspondence in the Library.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the value of the freight capacity framework agreement for the 48 month period it will in effect for.

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what other Departments his officials have worked with on the (a) Freight Capacity Framework Agreement and (b) Invitation to Tender for the Freight Capacity Framework Agreement.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Invitation to Tender for the Freight Capacity Framework Agreement was published on 30 July. The deadline for bids to join the freight capacity framework was 28 August. We are currently following the published evaluation methodology, and the outcome will be announced in due course. Further information cannot be provided at this stage because of the commercial sensitivities surrounding an ongoing procurement. The freight capacity framework will improve national resilience. The framework is open for use by all central UK government departments, their agencies and arms’ length bodies; and the Devolved Administrations, their agencies and ALBs. The maximum value of freight capacity available under the framework is £300m over the four-year term. The Department for Transport has been leading, on behalf of the rest of Government, work to provide freight capacity as part of preparations for the UK’s departure from the EU. This has involved engagement across Government and the Devolved Administrations throughout the process.

Dover Port: Large Goods Vehicles

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on (a) dock workers and (b) seafarers at the Port of Dover of delays in road freight traffic after 31 October; and when he last discussed that matter with trade unions.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government is continuing to review the impact of any potential disruption to the flow of freight after Brexit. I have regular meetings with key stakeholders in industry to discuss a range of important topics.Ports and service providers are best placed to consider any potential impact on specific groups of employees and address any specific local concerns. In addition, the Government has developed a website to provide advice on what Brexit means for people and businesses – this can be found at https://www.gov.uk/get-ready-brexit-check.

London International Shipping Week

Karl Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what financial support was provided by his Department in relation to London International Shipping Week (LISW) in (a) 2013, (b) 2015 and (c) 2017; and what estimate he has made of the financial support that will be available for LISW 2019.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: London International Shipping Week is the largest trade event in the UK this year, with 20,000 individuals attending over 200 events across 80 venues. It is a great opportunity to set out the Government’s innovative agenda highlighted in Maritime 2050. We have spent around £25,000 in previous years (2013, 2015 and 2017). We anticipate around £150,000 for the 2019 event due to an ambitious programme of Government-run events.

East Coast Railway Line: Railway Signals

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, on how many occasions there was significant disruption to East Coast Main Line services as a result of signal failures in each of the last 12 months.

Chris Heaton-Harris: In the 12 month period up to August 2019 there were three occasions on which signal failures on the East Coast Main Line caused more than 500 minutes of delay; one of these incidents caused more than 1,000 minutes of delay.

Taxis: Licensing

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his response to the September 2018 report of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals on restricting (a) cross-border and (b) out-of-area journeys by taxis.

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his response to the September 2018 report of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, if he will bring forward legislative proposals on minimum standards for taxis and private hire vehicles.

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if his Department will take steps in the next 12 months to prevent taxi drivers obtaining a private hire licence in a local authority area with lower licensing standards compared with the local authority area in which they undertake the majority of their trade.

George Freeman: Taxis and private hire vehicles (PHVs) are permitted to undertake pre-booked work outside of the area in which they are licensed. PHVs are subject to a triple licensing lock; the operator fulfilling the request, the driver and vehicle must all be licensed by the same authority. As set out in the Government’s response to the report by the Chair of the Task and Finish Group on Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, which focused on the sector in England (as taxi and PHV policy is a devolved matter), the Government will consider how restrictions on out-of-area journeys might work in practice, with a view to legislation. The Government response to the report stated that we will bring forward legislation, when time allows, to enable the setting of national minimum standards in taxi and PHV licensing. We encourage licensing authorities to make full use of their extensive existing powers to protect passengers.

Aviation: Egypt

Paula Sherriff: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when the Government last reviewed the security situation at Sharm El Sheikh airport; and what the outcome of that review was.

Paul Maynard: The Department for Transport undertakes aviation security assessments at overseas airports. UK aviation security experts are working closely with their Egyptian counterparts on the ground. It is long standing government policy not to comment on security matters, however I can confirm that we continue to work in partnership with the Egyptian authorities and are grateful for their close engagement and support. We look forward to achieving the return of flights to Sharm el-Sheikh when the situation allows.

Thameslink Railway Line

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the resilience of the (a) software on the Siemens Class 700 trains and (b) signals across the Thameslink route after the power supply problems on the rail network on 10 August 2019.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The major power outage on 9 August 2019 caused significant disruption to rail services and customers. The industry is reviewing what happened, to learn lessons from how the incident was managed so that their response can be improved for passengers in any future disruption, irrespective of the cause. I am happy to update the Honourable Member on the findings of this review once it is complete.

Railways: Franchises

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what inflationary measure his Department has specified in the new (a) East Midlands Trains and (b) West Coast Partnership franchises for the duration of those contracts.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Retail Prices Index (RPI) inflationary measure has been used for Annual Franchise Payments in both East Midlands Railway and West Coast Partnership franchises. This follows well-established rail industry practice which uses the RPI as the basis for franchise payment indexation, and for constraining annual increases to regulated passenger fares. The franchise payment allows for indexation of staff costs by RPI. However, in the last 12 months of the franchise the Average Weekly Earnings (AWE) measure maybe used where a variation is proposed to the franchise employees’ terms and conditions. The contracts also recognise that certain Network Rail charges are indexed by the Consumer Prices Index in Control Period 6.

Public Transport

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of introducing financial penalties for transport companies that fail to provide assistance for passengers who require such assistance.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: The Government wants disabled people to be able to travel easily, confidently and without additional cost, and expects transport operators to play their part in making this happen. Modal regulators play an important role in ensuring passengers receive the appropriate assistance, and we continue to consider measures to improve the experiences of passengers further. At present, however, we have no plans to apply financial penalties where they do not exist. Responsibility for road and rail transport accessibility in Northern Ireland is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive.

Driving: Licensing

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of people who have failed the DVLA sight test in each year since 2014.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of people who failed and subsequently passed DVLA sight tests; and what proportion of the total number of people taking sight tests that represents.

George Freeman: The information requested is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost, each individual case would need to be manually interrogated to retrieve the information.

Driving: Licensing

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria the Government used to decide which company was awarded the contract to undertake sight tests for the DVLA.

George Freeman: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency’s current eyesight test contract was awarded on 5 March 2014. The evaluation criteria used to award the contract were cost and quality. The detailed quality criteria were: nationwide coveragesub-contracting/recruitment processvision testing and process requirementsprocess improvementstesting improvementsmanagement information

Aviation: Renewable Fuels

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will set targets for the proportion of aviation fuel required to be sustainable sources; and if he will make a statement.

George Freeman: The Government is encouraging the production and use of sustainable alternative aviation fuels in the UK. Recent changes to the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) mean that renewable aviation fuels are eligible for reward, in the form of tradeable certificates. Additionally, the Future Fuels for Flight and Freight Competition (the F4C) makes up to £20 million of capital funding available to projects that will produce low carbon waste-based fuels to be used in aeroplanes and lorries. The Government welcomes the aviation sector’s positive progress in responding to the challenge of addressing its impact on climate change, including through new and innovative projects to convert waste to jet fuel. As the new Minister of State for the Future of Transport, I am actively considering further policies that the Government can put in place to assist the long-term uptake of sustainable alternative fuels in this sector.

Aerospace Industry: Innovation

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers in his Department and (c) officials of his Department have had with representatives of the aerospace industry on the the potential benefits of the use of autonomous technology.

George Freeman: The Government is actively supporting the development of innovative technology in aviation including automation. We supported a Global Urban Air Summit held at Farnborough last week which brought together industry, academia and government to discuss the development of new technologies like electric and autonomous aircraft. The Transport Secretary met a range of aviation stakeholders at the Light Aircraft Association Rally. In addition Ministers from the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Challenge meet regularly with the Aerospace Industry through the Aerospace Growth Partnership.

Aviation

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport,what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers of his Department and (c) officials in his Department have had with representatives of the aviation industry on the potential for reductions in the level of (i) emissions and (ii) noise as a result of electric propulsion.

George Freeman: Ministers and officials across Government regularly meet with the aviation and aerospace sectors to discuss proposals for decarbonisation. The Government is considering further policies it can put in place to assist the long-term development of innovative technology such as electric propulsion. In addition, the Government recently supported a Global Urban Air Summit held at Farnborough Airport, which brought together industry and academia to discuss the development of new technologies like electric and autonomous aircraft. The Transport Secretary also met a range of aviation stakeholders at the Light Aircraft Association Rally. I am actively meeting industry leaders to explore new ways to promote transport innovation.

Electric Vehicles

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions (a) he, (b) Ministers of his Department and (c) officials in his Department have had with representatives of the motor industry on the potential reduction in vehicle emissions from electric powered propulsion.

George Freeman: Government Ministers and officials are in frequent dialogue with the motor industry as we work together to deliver our ambition for zero emission road transport. Most recently I was delighted to speak and meet with industry representatives at ‘Cenex LCV2019’ the UK’s premier electric vehicle and technology showcase, held at Millbrook on 04 September 2019.

Blue Badge Scheme: Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the Blue Badge Scheme to include people with (a) Chron's Disease and (b) other Inflammatory bowel disease conditions.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: Eligibility for a blue badge is not restricted to specific conditions. People with Chron's Disease and other Inflammatory bowel disease conditions could receive a badge if they meet the eligibility criteria. The aim of the new expanded criteria is to ensure that those with non-visible conditions with the greatest needs have equal access to badges. It is for the relevant local authority to decide if an applicant meets the eligibility criteria.

Gatwick Airport

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the effect on the safe use of Gatwick airport's emergency runway of the expiry of Gatwick airport's 1979 agreement with West Sussex County Council.

Paul Maynard: Gatwick Airport have recently informed the Secretary of State of their intention to prepare an application for development consent for the increased use of their emergency runway. The Department has not conducted a safety assessment on the basis that it will be for Gatwick Airport to prepare a safety, environmental, and economic case for the proposal which the Planning Inspectorate will examine through the development consent process.

Travel: Costs

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent comparative assessment he has made of the (a) financial and (b) environmental costs of travelling by (i) train and (ii) aircraft on journeys in the UK.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department for Transport has made an estimate of the percentage change in real terms of the average financial cost to the individual of travelling by train and aircraft on journeys made in the UK. For travel by train, the Department publishes statistics on travel costs, based on data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), in the Transport Statistics Great Britain compendium. This is available from Table TSGB1308 at the link below:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/transport-expenditure-tsgb13. The costs of travelling by air within the UK are not available from ONS data. However, DfT estimates are available based on fare data collected from the Civil Aviation Authority passenger survey from 2000. The real cost of the average UK one-way air fare, including taxes and charges, covering domestic flights from 2010 to 2017 decreased by 22%. From 2015 to 2017 the real cost decreased by 7%. The Department has not recently made a comparative assessment of the environmental costs of travelling by train and aircraft on journeys in the UK.

Airports: Security

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has plans to introduce 3D baggage screening equipment at UK airports.

Paul Maynard: As announced by the Prime Minister on 25 August, all major UK airports have been instructed to introduce new 3D cabin baggage screening equipment by 1 December 2022.

Railways: Woking

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on (a) the peak seat capacity and (b) demand for rail services between Woking to London Waterloo in each peak morning hour.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department for Transport receives demand and capacity information for services at selected stations based on counts carried out by each Train Operating Company (TOC). This information is provided to the Department by the TOCs in confidence, as it relates to the way in which train operating companies operate their businesses. The Department publishes aggregated statistics showing overall passenger numbers and crowding levels into the major cities and central London stations in the publication ‘Rail passenger numbers and crowding on weekdays in major cities in England and Wales: 2018’. Information on the total number of seats and passenger numbers travelling from all locations into London Waterloo (via Vauxhall) is presented in the table below.   Morning peak seating and passenger number arrivals into London Waterloo on a typical autumn weekday in 2018Time07:00 - 07:5908:00 - 08:5909:00 - 09:59Passengers36,88951,53825,988Total seats28,76436,22324,969 Additional years are available at the link below:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/820139/rai0203.ods The only services which are exempt from commercial confidentiality are those which feature in the ‘top ten’ most overcrowded peak train services into major cities. In Autumn 2018, the 07:02 Woking to London Waterloo service featured in this list. Full details are available from the statistical release at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/rail-passenger-numbers-and-crowding-on-weekdays-in-major-cities-in-england-and-wales-2018

Railways: Woking

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many train services from Woking to London Waterloo were cancelled as a result of train reliability issues in the last six months.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department does not hold this information, but officials have asked SWR to get in touch with the Honourable Member to discuss his concerns, and answer this and any other questions he may have.

High Speed 2 Independent Review

Michael Fabricant: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will amend the terms of reference for the Oakervee Inquiry into the future of HS2 to include (a) alterations to the existing route of Phase 1a, (b) cancellation of the existing route of Phase 1a and a proposal new route to link London and Birmingham and (c) cancellation of HS2 in its entirety; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: The terms of reference for the independent review into HS2 were published on 21 August 2019. These are wide and allow the review panel to consider the areas raised in your question without amendment.

Aviation: Standards

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Which? analysis of Civil Aviation Data, published 6 July 2019, that showed eight out of 10 of the UK’s busiest airlines recorded an increase in delays of more than an hour between 2014 and 2018.

Paul Maynard: It is disappointing to see any deterioration of performance by airlines and the impact this can have on passengers. Delays can be caused by a number of reasons which are sometimes outside of airlines’ control. The Department works closely with the industry on resilience issues to plan for and mitigate the common causes of delay. In addition, the expansion of Heathrow and the major programme of work to modernise UK airspace will help to minimise delays for passengers and allow the system to recover more quickly from disruptive events.

Aviation

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the (a) resources and (b) investment allocated by (i) airports and (ii) airlines to meet increases in passenger demand between 2014 and 2018.

Paul Maynard: The UK aviation market operates predominately in the private sector. It is therefore for airports to invest in their infrastructure to attract passengers and airlines, while airlines are well placed to deliver services to their customers by responding to demand for different routes. The government has set out last year that it supports airports to make best use of their existing runways beyond Heathrow, subject to environmental issues being addressed. In addition, the Airports Commission’s Final Report, published in July 2015, recognised that Heathrow airport was already at capacity and that the remaining London airports were not far behind – impacting the UK’s economy and global trading opportunities. It stated that there is a clear need for one net additional runway in London and the South East by 2030. That is why, following a vote in the House of Commons, the Airports National Policy Statement was designated as government policy in June 2018.

Stansted Airport

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the number of flights at Stansted airport delayed by more than an hour between 2014 and 2018.

Paul Maynard: An assessment of the number of flights delayed can be made from flight punctuality data collected by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Due to a change in the way flight punctuality data has been collected and calculated by the CAA, figures for 2018 are not comparable to previous years. The answer is provided in the table below.YearTotal number of flights at Stansted where punctuality data was recordedPercentage of recorded flights delayed by more than an hour (%)Number of recoded flights delayed by more than an hour 2014133,3842.93,886 2015144,3413.34,763 2016151,9984.67,035 2017161,2705.48,657 2018173,77710.017,342 Source: DfT Analysis of CAA Punctuality Data

Cross Country Rail Franchise

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the provision of East Coast High Speed Trains will be included in the new Cross Country trains franchise.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The current CrossCountry franchise runs to October 2020. We are working with CrossCountry on a number of options that could provide additional capacity over the next few years for passengers using the CrossCountry network. This could include CrossCountry bringing additional trains into their fleet as suitable trains become available in the rolling stock market.

Heathrow Airport: Railways

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will publish details of the funding for the Western Rail Extension to Heathrow Airport.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Government supports the development of a Western Rail Link to Heathrow, subject to a satisfactory business case and the agreement of acceptable terms with the Heathrow aviation industry. The Department is engaging with Heathrow Airport Limited and the Civil Aviation Authority to reach agreement on an acceptable funding contribution. Given such, any details regarding the funding are strictly commercially sensitive.

Trains: Fuel Cells

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the potential for hydrogen trains to operate on the UK rail network in the next five years.

Chris Heaton-Harris: In February 2018 the Government challenged the rail industry to produce a vision for how all diesel-only trains could be removed from the rail network by 2040. In response, an industry taskforce, led by Malcom Brown, has identified hydrogen alongside electrification and battery power as technologies that can be used to decarbonise rail. The Department is working to accelerate the development of new low-carbon technologies so that they can be deployed on the network as soon as possible. We are currently funding a project that will see the UK's first operating hydrogen train tested on Network Rail’s mainline infrastructure. We are working with Network Rail to develop a decarbonisation strategy that will identify appropriate decarbonisation technologies, including hydrogen, for each part of our rail network. This strategy will ensure that rail makes its contribution to achieving the Government’s target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Ports: South West

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much additional funding he has allocated to ports in the South West to prepare for the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Chris Heaton-Harris: On 30 August, the Secretary of State for Transport announced the £10M Port Infrastructure Resilience and Connectivity (PIRC) fund with the intention of supporting Brexit resilience preparations at English ports. Ports in the South West will be eligible to apply for PIRC funding, and any bid will be subject to a competitive assessment process against applications from other ports.

M5: Plymouth

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of proposals to extend the M5 motorway from Exeter to Plymouth.

George Freeman: Final decisions on the second Road Investment Strategy that will cover new investments in the Strategic Road Network after 2020 will be announced later this year. These decisions will draw on evidence assembled through our extensive consultation and engagement process, including local proposals for enhancing the A38 between Exeter and Bodmin and the findings of Highways England’s South West Peninsula Route Strategy, published in 2017.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Newspaper Press

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department has spent on purchasing (a) national newspapers and (b) newspaper online subscriptions since 2016; and how many copies of each national newspaper were purchased in that time period.

Christopher Pincher: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office spent a total of £725,286 on newspapers supplied centrally in financial years 2016-17 to 2018-2019 for FCO staff in the United Kingdom and its diplomatic missions overseas. £617,911 of this was spent on online/electronic newspaper subscriptions which are made available digitally to all staff and £29,658 on print copies for use by its departments in London. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office purchases these through pan-government frameworks and contracts and encourages staff to use newspapers digitally wherever possible in order to ensure efficiency savings. The remaining amount of £77,717 was spent locally by overseas diplomatic missions over the three financial years.  FY 16-17FY 17-18FY 18-19Total FCO spend on newspapers £270,820£312,394£142,072*  FY 16-17FY 17-18FY 18-19Spend on online/electronic newspaper subscriptions provided centrally for access by all FCO staff£232,527£285,118£100,266*Spend locally by overseas diplomatic missions£29,813£17,213£30,693* In this financial year the FCO made adjustments to record spending on annual subscriptions according to the proportion actually spent within the same financial year. In many cases that total spend is now spread over more than one financial year. Titles and number of daily copies of print national newspapers delivered under contract to FCO London Newspaper title**FY 16-17FY 17-18FY 18-19Daily Express3 copies2 copies1 copyDaily Express Sat3 copies2 copies1 copyDaily Mail4 copies5 copies8 copiesDaily Mail Sat3 copies2 copies1 copyDaily Mirror3 copies3 copies2 copiesDaily Mirror Sat3 copies3 copies2 copiesDaily Telegraph9 copies12 copies10 copiesDaily Telegraph Sat2 copies3 copies2 copiesFinancial Times4 copies5 copies3 copiesFinancial Times Sat3 copies3 copies2 copiesGuardian7 copies6 copies10 copiesGuardian Sat3 copies2 copies2 copiesi-Newspaper3 copies3 copies2 copiesMail on Sunday3 copies3 copies1 copyObserver3 copies2 copies2 copiesSun6 copies5 copies6 copiesSun Sat2 copies2 copies2 copiesSunday Express2 copies2 copies2 copiesSunday Mirror2 copies3 copies2 copiesSunday People2 copies3 copies2 copiesSunday Telegraph2 copies2 copies2 copiesSunday Times3 copies5 copies2 copiesSun on Sunday2 copies3 copies2 copiesTimes13 copies16 copies24 copiesTimes Sat3 copies5 copies4 copies**Non-UK national newspaper titles to the value of £28 over the three financial years above have been omitted

Hong Kong: Politics and Government

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether it is his Department's policy to fulfil the UK's obligations under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: ​The British Government takes extremely seriously our longstanding duty to uphold the implementation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. It is a legally binding treaty, registered with the UN, and remains in force until 2047. We will continue to monitor closely events in Hong Kong, speaking publicly on issues of concern. We regularly raise our concerns directly with the Chinese and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) Governments. The Foreign Secretary raised Hong Kong, and the importance of the Joint Declaration, with Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi on 31 July. He also spoke to Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on 9 August, and reiterated our support for Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy, and our commitment to 'One Country, Two Systems'.

Burma: Rohingya

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his (a) Myanmar and (b) Bangladeshi counterpart on the safe repatriation of the Rohingya refugees in southern Bangladesh.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: We are clear that any repatriation of refugees must be safe, voluntary, dignified and meet international humanitarian principles and standards. We agree with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that the conditions for such repatriation do not yet exist in Rakhine.Following recent reports of potential repatriations, we worked closely with the UNHCR, and engaged with the Governments in Bangladesh and Myanmar to underline that returns must be safe, voluntary and dignified. We welcome Bangladesh's continued commitment to the principle of voluntariness and note Myanmar's acknowledgement that some Rohingya have a right to return. We will continue to make representations to the Governments of both Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Torture

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to meet its international obligations to prevent torture and ill treatment throughout the world.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Oman: Politics and Government

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the political situation in Oman.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Zimbabwe: Human Rights

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the human rights situation in Zimbabwe.

Andrew Stephenson: ​As I said in the House of Commons on 3 September, we are gravely concerned by the heavy-handed response by police to protests in Harare on 16 August and the recent arrests and abductions of opposition figures. Our Ambassador raised our concerns with the Foreign Minister on 22 August and the Defence Minister on 29 August. President Mnangagwa must hold those responsible for human rights violations to account. Zimbabwe remains one of the UK’s 30 Human Rights Priority Countries globally.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Occupied Territories: Health Services

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure people responsible for attacks on health workers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory face justice.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brazil: Indigenous Peoples

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Brazilian counterpart on the protection of indigenous tribes in the Amazon rainforest.

Christopher Pincher: The United Kingdom is committed to promoting and defending the human rights of all individuals. We have discussed issues affecting indigenous people with the Brazilian authorities and have regular contact with the Brazilian National Foundation for Indigenous People (FUNAI), which is responsible for protecting indigenous people in Brazil.

English Channel: Undocumented Migrants

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to discourage foreign nationals from illegally crossing the English Channel to the UK.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Tanzania: Press Freedom

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of media freedom in Tanzania since the arrest of investigative journalist Erick Kabendera.

Andrew Stephenson: On 5 August, I said publically that we were concerned at Mr Kabendera's continued detention and that the charges kept changing – a tactic commonly used to stop journalists from doing their job. On 9 August, our High Commission and the Embassy of the United States in Dar Es Salaam issued a joint statement expressing concern about Mr Kabendera's detention and the steady erosion of due process in Tanzania. The British Government believes that media freedom is vital to functioning societies and that journalists must be able to investigate and report as they see fit. The Government of Tanzania is well aware of our stance given that the Foreign Minister Kabudi attended the Media Freedom Conference in London last month.

Sudan: Politics and Government

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what role the troika of UK, US and Norway has had in Sudan’s constitutional settlement.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the Indian Government on their revocation of Article 370, granting special status to Indian-controlled Kashmir, from the Indian Constitution.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Ukraine: Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens are members of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe patrol groups operating in non-government controlled areas of Eastern Ukraine; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens are part of Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe patrol groups operating within 15 miles of the contact line in Eastern Ukraine; and if he will make a statement.

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many UK citizens are employed in Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe patrol groups operating in Eastern Ukraine where their areas of responsibility have experienced kinetic incidents including (a) ceasefire incidents and (b) humanitarian issues; and if he will make a statement.

Christopher Pincher: There are currently 62 British citizens seconded to the Organisation for Cooperation and Security in Europe's (OSCE) Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine. We are unable to provide information regarding the location of British citizens employed by the OSCE in Ukraine and their experience of kinetic events. Detailed information relating to these issues is owned by the OSCE and not the Government, and it would therefore be inappropriate for the Government to publish it. General information and reporting relating to kinetic, ceasefire and humanitarian incidents in eastern Ukraine is publicly available on the OSCE website (https://www.osce.org/special-monitoring-mission-to-ukraine).

Zimbabwe: Humanitarian Aid

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions his Department has had with representatives of the Southern African Development Community on the humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with Southern African Development Community leaders on the political situation in Zimbabwe.

Andrew Stephenson: ​We are working closely with international partners, including Southern African Development Community members, to call on the Government of Zimbabwe to investigate all allegations of human rights violations and implement promised political and economic reforms.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the recent amendments made to the Constitution of the Republic of India affecting (a) Article 370 and the status of territories within Jammu and Kashmir and (b) Article 35A and the constitutional autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the human rights implications of recent restrictions imposed by authorities of the Republic of India on (a) public meetings and (b) communications leading to the deprivation of liberty for political leaders within the territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the effect on the rule of law in the Republic of India of the procedures recently used by the Indian Government to amend Articles 370 and 35A of the Constitution of India.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic steps he is taking to help prevent the escalation of conflict over disputed territories and laws within the areas of India-controlled Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Forests: Conservation

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent diplomatic steps his Department has taken to promote the objectives of the Amsterdam Declaration.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brazil: Climate Change Convention

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his international counterparts on the extent to which Brazil is meeting its international obligations under Article 5 of the Paris Agreement, including the commitment to take action to conserve and enhance, as appropriate, sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases as referred to in Article 4, paragraph 1 (d), of the Convention, including forests.

Christopher Pincher: The United Kingdom was pleased to see Brazil reaffirm their commitment to the Paris Agreement at the G20, supporting vital international cooperation on climate change. We regularly engage with the Brazilian Government on many environmental issues and are committed to working together to deliver low carbon growth.

Cayman Islands: Passenger Ships

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his counterpart in the Cayman Islands on the environmental effects of the Cruise Berthing Facility Project.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cayman Islands: Passenger Ships

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the effect on coral reef and other seabed of the Cruise Berthing Facility Project in the Cayman Islands.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cayman Islands: Passenger Ships

Richard Benyon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Cruise Berthing Facility Project in the Cayman Islands on the UK’s marine protection policies for its Overseas Territories.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kyrgyzstan: Politics and Government

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of recent political developments in Kyrgyzstan.

Christopher Pincher: We are monitoring political developments in Kyrgyzstan following the arrest of former President Atambayev. There have been limited incidents of violence and unrest. We believe that it is important for the United Kingdom to continue to maintain its support, through our political engagement and programme activity, for Kyrgyzstan's ambition to strengthen democracy and the rule of law. Our Ambassador frequently engages with the Kyrgyz Government, stressing the importance of democratic standards and a free and fair judicial system for all. The United Kingdom's programme funding also works to support Kyrgyzstan's continued transition to a parliamentary democracy.

Iran: Nuclear Power

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his US counterpart on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

India: Human Rights

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what diplomatic steps his Department is taking to help tackle alleged human rights violations of Dalits and tribal people in India.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 05 September 2019.The correct answer should have been:

We engage with India on the full range of human rights matters, working with Union and State Governments and with non-governmental organisations to build capacity and share expertise to promote human rights for all. The British High Commission recently met the Vice Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities in July to discuss minority rights.We also support local NGOs to deliver projects to promote minority rights. In 2015, we funded a project that trained 500 tribal men and women on women’s rights and access to justice. During 2016-2018, we provided legal training for 2,000 Dalit women to combat violence against them, and helped create a network of Dalit Women Human Rights Defenders in four states. This year, we have launched a network of legal experts to empower Dalit communities in Andhra Pradesh and a helpline for victims of persecution to seek support.​

Mrs Heather Wheeler: We engage with India on the full range of human rights matters, working with Union and State Governments and with non-governmental organisations to build capacity and share expertise to promote human rights for all. The British High Commission recently met the Vice Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities in July to discuss minority rights.We also support local NGOs to deliver projects to promote minority rights. In 2015, we funded a project that trained 500 tribal men and women on women’s rights and access to justice. During 2016-2018, we provided legal training for 2,000 Dalit women to combat violence against them, and helped create a network of Dalit Women Human Rights Defenders in four states. This year, we have launched a network of legal experts to empower Dalit communities in Andhra Pradesh and a helpline for victims of persecution to seek support.​

Yemen: Armed Conflict

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he discussed the situation in Yemen at his meeting with the United States Secretary of State on 7 August 2019; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the next meeting of the Yemen Quad is planned to take place.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when he last met with the UN Special Envoy for Yemen; and when he next plans to meet with the UN Special Envoy for Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has held with his counterparts in (a) the United Arab Emirates and (b) Saudi Arabia on incidences of violence that took place in southern Yemen in August and July 2019.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brazil: Rain Forests

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Brazilian counterpart on the increase in deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon over the last 12 months.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Telecommunications

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Indian counterpart on the Indian Government lifting the communication blockade in Jammu and Kashmir; and what the response was to such representations.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Amazonia: Fires

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the UK is providing to tackle the fires in the Amazon rainforest; and if he will make a statement.

Christopher Pincher: The UK has worked in partnership with Brazil on this issue for many years. Through the International Climate Finance programmes, we are investing nearly £120 million to help reduce deforestation and improve low-carbon agricultural productivity. At the G7, the Prime Minister pledged a further £10 million to help fight deforestation.

Russia: Demonstrations

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Russian counterpart to condemn police violence at pro-democracy protests in that country.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sudan: Christianity

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Sudanese counterpart on tackling the persecution of Christians in the North African region.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: British Nationals Abroad

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure the safety of UK citizens in Kashmir.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Yemen: Humanitarian Aid

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with political representatives Yemen on tackling the humanitarian crisis in that country.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brazil: Indigenous Peoples

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Brazilian counterpart on the protection of indigenous tribes as a result of the fires in the Amazon rainforest.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Somalia: al Shabaab

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the presence of al-Shabaab in Somalia; and what support his Department is providing to the Somali Government to counter the threat of al-Shabaab.

Andrew Stephenson: Al-Shabaab represents a serious threat to security and stability in Somalia. The UK provides support to countering that threat through the provision of stipends and training to the African Union Mission in Somalia, which has been successful in driving al-Shabaab out of key urban centres. The UK also has an extensive programme of support to Somalia's security sector reform, which is helping Somalia take responsibility for its own national security, and ensuring it is threatened less by al-Shabaab. The UK also plays a leading role in upholding and strengthening the UN's Somalia sanctions regime that takes measures against those who seek to prevent a peaceful political process and threaten regional stability.

Cameroon: Armed Conflict

Liz McInnes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the humanitarian crisis in the anglophone region of Cameroon is a priority for his Department.

Andrew Stephenson: ​The British Government remains deeply concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation in the North-West and South-West (Anglophone) regions of Cameroon. We continue to raise these concerns at the highest levels, including with the Government of Cameroon, at the UN and with international partners. The British Government is providing lifesaving assistance to thousands of people in the Anglophone regions through a £2.5m contribution to the UN's humanitarian response plan. We urge all sides to engage in credible dialogue to tackle root causes of the crisis. Supporting security, stability and good governance in Africa is a foreign policy priority.

Saudi Arabia: Human Rights

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Saudi Arabian counterpart on the protection of (a) the LGBT community and (b) religious minorities in Saudi Arabia.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Palestinians: Health Services

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the extent to which Israel’s internal investigations into the killings of Palestinian health workers comply with international standards of independence, impartiality, promptness, thoroughness, and transparency.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fossil Fuels: Overseas Aid

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make it his policy to prevent fossil fuel projects from being funded through his Department's foreign aid programmes.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The UK Green Finance Strategy, launched on 2 July 2019, included a commitment to align Official Development Assistance (ODA) spending with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Yemen: Armed Conflict

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of civilian deaths as a result of attacks in Aden in Yemen in August 2019.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Atheism

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department taking to protect the freedom of atheists around the world.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) is committed to defending Freedom of Religion or Belief as a universal human right which should be enjoyed by everyone, everywhere. This includes the right to have no religious conviction or belief. The UK regularly raises our concerns, including, where appropriate the treatment of atheists, with governments across the world. We do this at a Ministerial level and through our diplomatic network. We also use the Human Rights Council to draw attention to the treatment of religious and non-religious minorities, and the UK funds and supports projects that promote respect for all people of different faiths and none.

Serhiy Rusynov

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Russian counterpart on the release of the Ukrainian student Serhiy Rusynov, who has been for almost a year held by Russian backed separatists in Donbas.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sudan: Chad

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations has he made to the Government of Sudan on Rapid Support Force incursions into Chad close to Beda at the border with Sudan.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Darfur: Law and Order

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations the Troika of the US, UK and Norway has made to the new governing coalition in Sudan on tackling the lack of law and order in Darfur.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sudan: Politics and Government

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with his Sudanese counterpart on the process of appointing new President in that country.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sudan: Libya

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will he make representations his Sudanese counterpart on the withdrawal the Rapid Support Forces supporting Khalifa Haftar’s army in Libya.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Zimbabwe: Politics and Government

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of the security situation in Zimbabwe.

Andrew Stephenson: ​As I said in the House of Commons on 3 September, we are gravely concerned by the heavy-handed response by police to protests in Harare on 16 August and the recent arrests and abductions of opposition figures. Our Ambassador raised our concerns with the Foreign Minister on 22 August and the Defence Minister on 29 August. President Mnangagwa must hold those responsible for human rights violations to account. Zimbabwe remains one of the UK’s 30 Human Rights Priority Countries globally.

China: Uighurs

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Chinese counterpart on the reported mass detention of Uighur Muslims in that country.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Diplomatic Service: British Nationals Abroad

Hannah Bardell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many requests have been made for consular assistance by UK citizens since 2014.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Yemen: Armed Conflict

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with the UN Special Envoy for Yemen on the situation in Aden and southern Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made to begin further rounds of peace talks between the warring parties in Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress has been made in implementing the Stockholm Agreement in Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sudan: Human Rights

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the announcement of 14 August 2019 that the US Government has barred former Sudanese intelligence chief Salah Gosh from entering that country, what steps he has taken since 14 August 2019 to ensure that human rights violators from Sudan do not enter the UK.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Eritrea: Religious Freedom

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of religious freedom and tolerance in Eritrea.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Yemen: Eritrea

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of Eritrean troops fighting in Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Russia: G8

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if the Government will oppose the readmission of Russia to the G8.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Simon Cheng

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to provide assistance to British Consulate employee Simon Cheng after his arrest in China.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he has made representations to his Indian counterpart on allowing independent observers into Jammu and Kashmir since the revocation of parts of Article 370 of India's constitution.

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken at an international level for political resolution in Kashmir; and what representations he has made to his Indian counterpart on the situation in Kashmir.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sudan: Politics and Government

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department has discussed term limits for governing and elected officials in Sudan with (a) military leaders, (b) civilian members of the (i) sovereign council and (ii) legislative council and (c) ministers of that country.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Human Rights

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what (a) assessment he has made of the effect of reports of arbitrary indefinite detention in Kashmir and (b) representations the Government has made to the Government of (a) India and (b) Pakistan on the human rights of Kashmir residents.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Saudi Arabian and Emirati counterparts on the airstrike on a detention centre in Dhamar, Yemen on 1 September 2019; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government has made an assessment of whether the airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on a detention centre in Dhamar, Yemen on 1 September 2019 was a legitimate military operation in line with international humanitarian law.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We are deeply concerned about reports of civilian deaths after an attack on a detention centre in Dhamar province in Yemen on 1 September. Our thoughts are with those who have been affected. We are urgently seeking more information and are in touch with Coalition partners, who have referred the incident to the Joint Incident Assessment Team and publicly stated they were targeting a weapons depot.

Yemen: Peace Negotiations

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, when the Yemen Quad will next convene to meet.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We are discussing with relevant parties the timing and details of the next meeting of the Yemen Quad. In the meantime it is vital that all parties abide by agreements made in Stockholm. We continue to engage constructively with all parties, including the Special Envoy Martin Griffiths and General Lollesgaard, to continue to build confidence and make progress on the political solution. During my recent visit to the Gulf, I met with senior regional political figures including the UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, Reem al Hashimy; and the Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Adel al Jubeir, to discuss Yemen.

Bahrain: Embassies

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Bahraini counterpart on reports of violent incidents at the British Embassy in that country.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

China: Human Rights

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of which risk factors can cause a person to receive a (a) yellow and (b) red designation under the mass surveillance and suspect profiling system of the Chinese Government in Xinjiang.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

China: Human Rights

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the level of use of variables on (a) ethnicity and (b) religion in (i) visual identification and (ii) suspect profiling systems used by the Chinese Government in Xinjiang.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

China: Terrorism

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the number of forced confessions for terrorism-related offences in detention camps in Xinjiang, China in the last three years.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

China: Minority Groups

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the extent of detention on the basis of allegations made against family members among the Uighur and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang, China.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

China: Human Rights

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the extent of the involvement of UK companies in the development of (a) visual identification and (b) suspect profiling systems used by the Chinese Government in Xinjiang.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

China: Human Rights

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the implications for (a) human rights and (b) the rule of law of the risk assessment system used by the Chinese Government in Xinjiang.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Indian and Pakistani counterparts to encourage dialogue between the two nations and to help ease tensions in Kashmir.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Human Trafficking

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what role his Department has in preventing human trafficking.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Iraq: Kurds

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of bilateral relations with the Kurdistan region in Iraq; and if he will make a statement.

Dr Andrew Murrison: ​The UK retains strong relations with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). British Ministers and officials regularly engage with KRI representatives. On 1 September our Ambassador to Iraq met the KRI Prime Minister, Masrour Barzani, to discuss latest developments and I spoke to the KRI President, Nechirvan Barzani, on 12 June. The UK also provides significant support to the KRI, including through training assistance to the Peshmerga, humanitarian aid, advice on economic reform, and continued efforts to deepen UK-KRI trade.

West Bank: LGBT People

Paul Masterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has had made to the Palestinian Authority on (a) its decision to prevent Palestinian LGBTQ group Al Qaws from holding events in the West Bank and (b) the effect of that decision on the LGBTQ community in the West Bank.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Papua: Human Rights

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Indonesian counterpart on reports of mass arrests of West Papuans in( a) Surabaya and (b) Jayapura.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: We are concerned about recent reports of disturbances in Surabaya and Jayapura. We urge parties to refrain from violence and respect the rule of law.Our Officials at the Embassy in Jakarta, including the Ambassador, visit Papua regularly. Officials also press the Indonesian authorities to address legitimate human rights concerns. This includes upholding the right of all citizens to peacefully protest, and ensuring the sustainable and equitable development of Papua. We will continue to monitor developments.

Bolivia: Fires

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what (a) representations he has made and (b) support his Department has provided to the Government of Bolivia after the spate of wildfires throughout that nation.

Christopher Pincher: The United Kingdom is deeply concerned by the wildfires in Bolivia and their impact on the climate and on Bolivia's unique biodiversity. Our Ambassador discussed this issue with the President of Bolivia on 2 September, and we will continue to monitor the situation closely.Through our embassy in Bolivia, the British Government financed the first deployment of international experts to assist the national co-ordination effort to tackle the fires. The United Kingdom stands ready to work with Bolivia and international partners in seeking long-term, sustainable measures to protect their forests.

Bahrain: Security

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Government of Bahrain on security in that region.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Bahrain: Foreign Relations

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what discussions he had with the Government of Bahrain on bilateral relations with that country.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cameroon: Schools

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Cameroonian counterpart on reports of attacks on school children in Ambazonia state; and what support the Government provides to schools in that region.

Andrew Stephenson: The British Government is deeply concerned about the situation in the North-West and South-West (Anglophone) regions of Cameroon, which continue to suffer from high levels of violence that is driving thousands of people from their homes and involving attacks on infrastructure, including hospitals and schools. Children are suffering in these attacks, from kidnappings and as a result of school closures. All children have the right to learn in safe environments. We continue to raise our concerns at the highest levels, including with the Government of Cameroon and at the UN, calling for an end to violence and pressing the Government of Cameroon to investigate all incidents of human rights violations and abuses. Through our High Commission in Yaoundé, we have supported the efforts of local partners in their campaigns and lobbying on the resumption of school activities. The British Government is also providing lifesaving assistance to thousands of people in the Anglophone regions through a £2.5m contribution to the UN's humanitarian response plan.

Yemen: Arms Trade

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 18 April 2019 to Question HL15082, whether UK-supplied weapons have been used in Yemen in breach of international humanitarian law; what estimate the Government has made of the number of civilian deaths in Yemen as a result of UK supplied weapons; and what steps the Government is taking to help deescalate the conflict in Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Government operates one of the most robust export control regimes in the world. We will not issue any export licences that are inconsistent with the Consolidated Criteria, including Criterion 2(c): whether there is a clear risk that the goods might be used in the commission of a serious violation of International Humanitarian Law. The UK does not routinely track the use of specific weapons once sold to another country. Our current approach is to focus on a rigorous risk assessment before a licence is issued and consider whether goods might be used in a way which is inconsistent with the Consolidated Criteria. The UK does not carry out end-use verification checks overseas once the licence is issued. However, we can and do respond quickly to changing international situations and review, suspend or revoke licences as necessary when circumstances require. We have played a leading role in diplomatic efforts, including bringing together key international actors to try to find a peaceful solution. I visited the region from 25 to 29 September in support of UN efforts to make political progress and alleviate the humanitarian situation. I met Yemeni, Saudi, Emirati and Oman representatives, as well as UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths and urged all parties to engage constructively with the UN Special Envoy in order to reach an enduring political settlement in Yemen. The UK has also hosted a series of Quad meetings of foreign ministers from the US, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, and the former Foreign Secretary visited Aden in March, which was the first visit to Yemen by a Western foreign minister since the start of the conflict in 2015.

Iran: Radioactive Materials

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for the Middle East of the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency report that Iran is refusing to co-operate with the investigation into the alleged storage of nuclear equipment and radioactive material in Tehran.

Dr Andrew Murrison: ​The UK fully supports the International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) efforts to monitor and verify Iran's nuclear programme under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) as well as related monitoring under Iran's Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and the Additional Protocol. In its last report to the Board of Governors (May 2019) the IAEA confirmed its continued verification and monitoring of the JCPOA. The UK has consistently urged Iran to offer full and timely cooperation to the IAEA: this builds regional and international confidence in the peaceful intentions of its nuclear programme. Iran also has legal obligations to cooperate with the IAEA under its Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol. We strongly urge Iran to fully comply with its obligations.

Diplomatic Service

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps are being taken to promote tourism and investment in Northern Ireland through the global UK diplomatic network.

Christopher Pincher: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Equal Rights Coalition

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure that Equal Rights Coalition meets its objectives under the UK's leadership of that organisation.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Equal Rights Coalition

Nick Herbert: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to ensure successful outcomes of the Equal Rights Coalition's conference on LGBT+ rights to be held in London in 2020.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Armed Conflict

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to help secure the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 47.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Human Rights

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with which countries his Department has a regularised human rights dialogue.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Humanitarian Aid

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking at the UN Security Council to secure free movement of humanitarian organisations in Kashmir.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: ​It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether the Indian Government's repeal of Articles 370 and 35a of the Indian Constitution is in breach of the Simla Agreement.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Armed Conflict

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Prime Minister of Pakistan's appeal for a multilateral approach to resolving the conflict in Kashmir.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of whether the Indian Government's suspension of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution constitutes a material breach of the Instrument of Accession agreed by the British Government on 27 October 1947.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: ​​It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Politics and Government

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether it is his policy to ensure that India's implementation of the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' request to admit its team to Kashmir is a condition of the UK entering into a potential bilateral trade agreement with India.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Kashmir: Human Rights

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of (a) the extent of human rights breaches in Jammu and Kashmir and (b) whether those breaches meet the threshold for the international community to consider intervention under the Responsibility To Protect framework.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Spain: Espionage

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to protect hon. Members in response to reports of spying by the Spanish Government.

Christopher Pincher: ​​It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Iran: Tankers

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 September 2019 to Question 281690 on Iran: tankers, whether the US Administration asked the UK to support the Gibraltar-led operation.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Norfolk Island

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether Norfolk Island (a) was within the geographical boundaries of the Commonwealth of Australia or any State thereof when it was given to the Commonwealth of Australia in 1914 or (b) has since become within those boundaries.

Mrs Heather Wheeler: ​It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Iran: Guided Weapons

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of (a) Iran's attempts to produce precision guided munitions and (b) the accuracy of reports of Iran's provision of such weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for International Development

Department for International Development: Newspaper Press

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much his Department has spent on purchasing (a) national newspapers and (b) newspaper online subscriptions since 2016; and how many copies of each national newspaper were purchased in that time period.

Andrew Stephenson: As of 2 September 2019, DFID has spent an estimated £47,000 since the start of financial year 2016/17 on newspaper subscriptions (both physical and online). Broken down by year:Financial yearEstimated spend2016/17£12,0002017/18£12,5002018/19£17,0002019/20£5,500 These figures are estimates because the costs of some newspaper subscriptions are combined with magazine subscriptions and cannot be disaggregated. Information on the total spent specifically on online subscriptions and the number of each individual newspaper procured is not held centrally and could only be collated at disproportionate cost.

Zambia: Droughts

Mrs Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions he has had with his Zambian counterpart on declaring a national emergency in relation to the drought and famine in western and southern Zambia.

Andrew Stephenson: The British Government is engaging actively with the Government of Zambia on the drought affecting large parts of Zambia to ensure assistance is provided to the many Zambians facing food insecurity.On 29th August, the Department for International Development’s (DFID) visiting Director for West and Southern Africa met with the Zambian Minister of Finance and raised the allocation of resources for the drought response. The Head of Office for DFID Zambia and the British High Commissioner also met with the Vice President last month and encouraged Zambia to request international emergency assistance to scale up the response. DFID is in close contact with Zambia’s Disaster Management Response Unit, the United Nations, and international Non-Governmental Organisations on the ground. The UK is planning to provide support to respond through Emergency Cash Transfers and treatment of acute malnutrition in the worst affected areas.

Gaza: Health Services

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that medical workers in Gaza can perform their humanitarian functions without risk of attack.

Dr Andrew Murrison: We are supporting urgent medical needs in Gaza through the International Committee for the Red Cross and the World Health Organisation. No health or aid workers anywhere in the world should be at risk of violence. They should have the protection that allows them to do their jobs in safety. We regularly raise with the Government of Israel the humanitarian situation Gaza, stressing the importance of protecting civilians, especially children and medical personnel.

Department for International Development: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Zimbabwe: Droughts

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the recent declaration by the Zimbabwean Government of the drought in that country being a natural disaster, what humanitarian assistance the UK Government is providing to Zimbabwe.

Andrew Stephenson: Due to a combination of drought, economic challenges and the impact of Cyclone Idai, Zimbabwe is facing a humanitarian crisis. Without support, more than 5.5 million people will not have access to the food they need by March 2020. In response, on 9 August 2019, the Secretary of State for International Development announced a new £49million Humanitarian and Resilience Programme that will build on current DFID interventions in livelihoods, food security, resilience, and rural water supply by helping communities and institutions cope with climate change, the macroeconomic context, and other shocks and stresses This programme is in line with the Global Goals of reducing poverty, achieving food security, ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all and tackling climate change and its impacts. No UK aid is given directly to the Government of Zimbabwe; all support is channelled through trusted aid partners.

Burundi: Malaria

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support his Department is offering to help tackle the malaria outbreak in Burundi.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Philippines: Dengue Fever

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support his Department is offering to help tackle the dengue fever outbreak in the Philippines.

Andrew Stephenson: The UK contributes both technical and financial resources to global mechanisms and funds such as the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) and the World Health Organization’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE). GOARN and CFE have the potential to deploy international resources from the UK and other countries to support responses to outbreaks such as the current dengue outbreak in the Philippines.

Zimbabwe: Food and Water

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support his Department is providing to help tackle (a) food and (b) water shortages in Zimbabwe.

Andrew Stephenson: Due to a combination of drought, economic challenges and the impact of Cyclone Idai, Zimbabwe is facing a humanitarian crisis. Without support, more than 5.5 million people will not have access to the food they need by March 2020. In response, on 9 August 2019, the Secretary of State for International Development announced a new £49million Humanitarian and Resilience Programme that will build on current DFID interventions in livelihoods, food security, resilience, and rural water supply by helping communities and institutions cope with climate change, the macroeconomic context, and other shocks and stresses This programme is in line with the Global Goals of reducing poverty, achieving food security, ensuring the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all and tackling climate change and its impacts. No UK aid is given directly to the Government of Zimbabwe; all support is channelled through trusted aid partners.

Yemen: Violence

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the humanitarian situation in Yemen of the recent escalation of violence in Aden.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK is monitoring the humanitarian impact felt in the south of Yemen. The UN has so far verified 13 civilian deaths and 70 civilian injuries since fighting escalated and has reported over 1,600 families and 1,000 individuals have been displaced to northern governates in August. Major overland routes in the south have closed and a backlog of 15,000 containers in Aden port waiting to be processed. This is affecting the delivery of commercial goods and humanitarian services, including challenges for UN agencies transferring goods between Aden and the north. The UK regularly raises humanitarian concerns with all parties to the conflict, calling on them to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2451 and facilitate safe, rapid, and unhindered access for humanitarian and commercial supplies, including through Aden Port.

Yemen: International Assistance

Alison Thewliss: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that humanitarian organisations are able to operate in Aden in Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK is monitoring the humanitarian impact being felt in the south of Yemen. Although Aden port remains operational, we are concerned by a backlog of 15,000 containers waiting to be processed. Fighting across the south of the country has also closed many major overland routes, affecting the onward delivery of commercial goods and humanitarian services. The UK is engaging closely with UN agencies and NGOs on the ground and continues to call on all parties to the conflict to facilitate safe and unhindered humanitarian and commercial access into and throughout Yemen, including for food and fuel, as set out by UN Security Council Resolution 2451 which was drafted by the UK.

Ilois: Resettlement

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2019 to Question 278525 on Ilois: Resettlement, how much of the £20 million allocated to his Department for programmes to develop a support package for Chagossians living in Mauritius has been spent; and how much of that spending has been classified as Official Development Assistance.

Andrew Stephenson: Since the Written Ministerial Statement in November 2016, neither the main Chagossian leadership nor the Government of Mauritius have engaged actively with the UK Government in the development of a support package for Chagossians in Mauritius. However, as a first step DFID has contracted the British Council in Mauritius to deliver English Language Training (ELT) to the Chagossian community. The British Council ran a series of radio adverts at a cost of £5,444 to gauge interest among the Chagossian community. This is the only spending to date against DFID’s commitment of £20m and is classified as Official Development Assistance. Following this successful campaign, ELT courses started in late August.

India: Floods

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support his Department is providing to Indian states affected by flooding.

Andrew Stephenson: Since 2004 the Indian Government neither seeks nor accepts official international assistance ‎from foreign governments for disaster relief. The Indian Government is leading the response and providing humanitarian and relief assistance. There has been no approach to the UK Government from the Government of India.

Somalia: Internally Displaced People

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to support internally displaced persons in Somalia.

Andrew Stephenson: There are currently 2.6m internally displaced people in Somalia as a result of drought and conflict. DFID is providing £20m to help find lasting solutions for displaced people that includes: better housing, access to basic services and support in finding employment. The Department is also making an additional £30 million contribution to provide emergency, life-saving, assistance.

Somalia: al Shabaab

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment his Department have made of the role of al-Shabaab on the UK's ability to distribute humanitarian aid in Somalia; and what steps he is taking to support people at risk of food insecurity in that country.

Andrew Stephenson: Somalia is one of the toughest places in the world to deliver aid. We support the UN Security Council resolutions on Somalia that call for all parties, including Al Shabaab, to allow for the full, safe, rapid and unhindered access of aid to persons in need across Somalia in line with humanitarian principles. We also support the UN in condemning all attacks on humanitarian personnel. DFID has been commended by the Independent Commission for Aid Impact for reaching our intended beneficiaries, even in very remote areas of Somalia, as a result of advanced and innovative methods of monitoring suppliers. We recently announced an additional £30 million contribution to provide emergency, life-saving, assistance. This brings our total humanitarian spend in Somalia in 2019 to £68 million. We are also building lasting solutions including sustainable water supply and protection of livelihoods to reduce the risks of food insecurity for vulnerable communities in the longer term.

Developing Countries: Food

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World's report which found that global hunger has increased for the fourth year, what steps the Government is taking to (a) tackle global hunger and (b) achieve the Sustainable Development Goal Two.

Zac Goldsmith: The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report shows that without significantly increased efforts the world will fall far short of achieving the target of eradicating hunger by 2030. The UK is playing its part to ending hunger and undernutrition through its substantial portfolio of humanitarian support and longer-term responses to tackling chronic hunger and supporting food security by transforming agriculture. We are aware that the international community needs to do more. We are discussing opportunities for scaled-up and improved global interventions, including the German-initiated proposal for a SDG2 moment in 2020, and are supporting the Government of Japan in its preparations for the 2020 Nutrition for Growth Summit.

Department for International Development: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Andrew Stephenson: DFID has two headquarter buildings in the UK, one at 22 Whitehall and the other at Abercrombie House in East Kilbride.Hospitality spend at each HQ was: 22 Whitehall Abercrombie House2017£2,913.64£3,137.862018£9,632.63£2,103.22Total£12,546.27 £5,241.08 These figures refer to calendar years.

Department for International Development: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

International Assistance

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that people responsible for attacks on humanitarian workers are held to account.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The primary responsibility for prosecuting those who attack humanitarian workers in any context lies with the relevant state authorities. In a conflict context, where the state authorities are unable or unwilling to do this, international accountability mechanisms may be invoked, as appropriate. The UK supports international mechanisms such as the International Criminal Court or ad hoc tribunals acting within their mandates when grave violations of international humanitarian law are suspected, and the state is genuinely unable or unwilling to investigate or prosecute.

Poliomyelitis: Vaccination

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to support the promotion of polio immunisation in(a) Pakistan, (b) Afghanistan and (c) Nigeria.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK works closely with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) to support their efforts in promoting and delivering polio vaccination programmes in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria. We follow developments closely in country through DFID country office staff and through our engagement with GPEI headquarters in Geneva. The successes of the GPEI in Nigeria is evidenced by that country’s achievement of three years without wild polio virus. During engagement with the GPEI and during bilaterals with the remaining endemic countries the UK stresses the importance of understanding the context-specific blocks to eradication and promoting the great value of immunisation.

Poliomyelitis: Vaccination

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps the UK Government is taking to support and protect health workers so that they are able to continue to provide polio immunisation programmes under the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK is a leading supporter of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) which is responsible for polio programme delivery. Working with state and local governments, GPEI provides additional training and safety measure to protect health workers working in high risk and volatile settings. As part of our risk management, the UK closely monitors GPEI to ensure prevention, reporting and mitigation measures are in place.

Poliomyelitis: Vaccination

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to work alongside the One Last Push campaign to ensure that (a) funding and (b) other support is available for polio vaccination programmes in countries at risk from that disease.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Angola: Droughts

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to support people affected by recent droughts in Angola.

Andrew Stephenson: DFID is concerned about the effects of drought and food insecurity on people across Southern Africa and in Angola. Over one million Angolans are affected. Angola is a lower middle-income country, in sub-Saharan Africa it has the third largest economy and is the second largest oil producer. DFID does not have a bilateral programme in Angola, but we do support the people of Angola through centrally managed programmes and contributions to multilateral agencies. For example, in 2018 the UK provided over £300 million in core humanitarian funding to United Nations specialised agencies, the Red Cross movement and NGOs. As a result, the UK’s contribution is approximately 20 percent of the UN Central Emergency Response Fund that has been activated this year in Angola. The UK is fully committed to tackling climate change and is playing a leading role in driving change around the world. Our regional programmes have supported the identification and planning of water infrastructure and livelihoods programmes to reduce vulnerability to drought including the preliminary design of water supply and sanitation projects that would build water security for more than 20,000 rural people in the Angolan Calai District.

Yemen: Humanitarian Aid

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support his Department is providing to the World Food Programme to resume distribution of humanitarian aid in Sana’a.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The World Food Programme (WFP) resumed their distribution of food aid in Sana’a city on Wednesday 21 August, following an agreement with the Houthis on the introduction of biometric registration of beneficiaries and an end to Houthi aid interference. The UK has worked closely with WFP throughout this year to ensure that food aid can continue to reach those who need it most. Most recently, on Friday 9 August, the International Development Secretary met with David Beasley, WFP’s Executive Director, where they discussed progress towards the resumption of food deliveries to Sana’a city. The UK actively calls on the Houthis to stand by their commitments to WFP to allow the biometric registration of beneficiaries so that millions of vulnerable Yemenis can continue to be reached with life-saving aid.

Sudan: Politics and Government

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether it is Government policy that future UK aid to Sudan is dependent on fixed-term limits for governing and elected officials in that country.

Andrew Stephenson: The UK is committed to working with partners to meet the needs of the people of Sudan, regardless of the political situation. This is not dependent on fixed term-limits for governing and elected officials, but we do support the establishment of proper democratic processes. UK aid is currently channelled through multilateral organisations, international Non-Governmental Organisations and commercial partners, which are monitored by DFID in Sudan. During the 39 month transitional period the UK will continue to provide lifesaving aid to the most vulnerable and urge the Civilian-led Government of Sudan to undertake much needed economic and political reforms to support prosperity and the rights of the people of Sudan. We continue to stand ready to assist these efforts.

EU Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what plans his Department has to work with the EU on development co-operation in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government would prefer to leave with a deal and we will work in an energetic and determined way to do so. If it is not possible to reach a deal we will have to leave with no deal and the Government is preparing for that outcome.The UK is a development superpower and will remain committed to supporting the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people. Where it is in the UK’s interests, we will seek to work with the EU on shared priorities in international development, as a third country.

Developing Countries: Brexit

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on developing countries of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for International Development: Brexit

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff in his Department are deployed to other departments and working on the UK leaving the EU.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for International Development: Brexit

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, to which departments staff in his Department are seconded and transferred as a result of preparations for the UK leaving the EU.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Overseas Aid

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, pursuant to his letter of 15 August 2019 to civil society organisations on the Government’s planning for Brexit, what estimate he has made of the number of contracts not underwritten and which are eligible to be underwritten.

Andrew Stephenson: DFID has received a large number applications from civil society organisations (CSOs) for financial assurance and we underwrite them on a case-by-case basis. Eligibility is based on criteria set out by the Government’s Technical Notice titled, ‘The government’s guarantee for EU-funded programmes if there’s no Brexit deal’, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-governments-guarantee-for-eu-funded-programmes-if-theres-no-brexit-deal Applications are accepted until 31 October, and DFID regularly updates UK CSOs to ensure as many eligible programmes as possible are captured. Following his letter, the Secretary of State for International Development met with many of them on 27 August. DFID Ministers and officials will continue this dialogue ahead of Brexit.

Developing Countries: Females

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding his Department has committed to improving the lives of adolescent girls in each of the last five years.

Andrew Stephenson: The UK is committed to promoting gender equality and protecting and empowering adolescent girls, this is essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Adolescence is a critical time when a person’s experiences, and the decisions taken by them and for them, affect the rest of their lives. In supporting and protecting adolescent girls, we are empowering the decision makers, peacebuilders and business leaders of our future. DFID’s work to protect and empower adolescent girls consists of standalone programming, integrated programmes, a range of interventions incorporated into wider education, economic empowerment and social protection programmes and work through multilateral agencies. This complexity means that we cannot currently track spend on adolescent girls. We do know, however, that DFID is providing a significant amount of support to adolescent girls through for example the Girls’ Education Challenge (£500m), £225m per year to universal Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR), £39m to end child marriage, £50m to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), and £9m for the ‘Support to Adolescent Girls Empowerment’ Programme in Sierra Leone.

Bangladesh: Rohingya

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much funding was provided by his Department to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in (a) 2017, (b) 2018 and (c) 2019 to date.

Andrew Stephenson: Since the latest crisis began in August 2017, the UK has provided a total of £150,945,580 to support Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in all major sectors, including protection, shelter, site management, education, health, nutrition, water and sanitation. We provided £51,073,763 in 2017, £62,772,680 in 2018 and £37,099,137 up to the end of August 2019. We will remain a leading donor to the humanitarian response and will announce new funding imminently.

Developing Countries: Free Trade

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on potential opportunities to help grow the economies of developing countries through free trade.

Andrew Stephenson: Trade is a key driver of economic growth that can trigger positive changes in a country’s economy, helping to raise incomes, create jobs and lift people out of poverty.Our first priority is to deliver continuity in our trading arrangements with developing countries in order to minimise trade disruption as we leave the EU. Once we leave the EU, the UK will be able to offer a fully integrated trade and development package, which will encompass preferential market access for developing country partners alongside our aid spending that helps developing countries to take advantage of trading opportunities.

Yemen: International Assistance

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps he is taking to encourage donors to fulfil the pledges they have made to the United Nations-led humanitarian response in Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK has brought forward funding from our £200 million aid pledge to Yemen this year and has already provided 87% of the funding we pledged to UN agencies. The UK continues to engage with donor countries at every opportunity to ensure they rapidly disburse funding to the UN humanitarian response in Yemen. I most recently did this during my visit to the Gulf region from 25-29 August, where I discussed the issue with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Yemen: International Assistance

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to ensure humanitarian organisations are able to operate in Aden, Yemen.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The UK is monitoring the humanitarian impact being felt in the south of Yemen.Although Aden port remains operational, we are concerned by a backlog of 15,000 containers waiting to be processed. Fighting across the south of the country has also closed many major overland routes, affecting the onward delivery of commercial goods and humanitarian services.The UK is engaging closely with UN agencies and NGOs on the ground and continues to call on all parties to the conflict to facilitate safe and unhindered humanitarian and commercial access into and throughout Yemen, including for food and fuel, as set out by UN Security Council Resolution 2451 which was drafted by the UK.

Kashmir: Medical Treatments

Ms Lisa Forbes: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what support his Department can provide to help doctors access medicines in Kashmir.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Developing Countries: Climate Change

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what recent assessment he has made of the effect on his Department's climate-focused work of planning for the UK to leave the EU without a deal.

Danielle Rowley: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many staff of his Department who previously focused on climate change have moved to a role to plan for the UK leaving without a deal since July 2019.

Zac Goldsmith: DFID is fully supporting the Government’s preparations to ensure that the UK leaves the EU on 31 October. At the same time, as the Prime Minister made clear at the recent G7 Leaders meeting, the UK is strongly committed to tackling the two immense threats of climate change and biodiversity loss. Putting climate change and environment at the heart of our development programming is a high priority for DFID. While we have, since July 2019, deployed a small number of staff (fewer than 5) who were working on climate change to work on planning for our exit from the EU, overall the number of staff working on climate change is increasing.

Kenya: Education

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that children in Kenya have access to high quality education.

Andrew Stephenson: As one of the largest donors to the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), DFID is helping to ensure that children in Kenya have access to high quality education. GPE supports the Government of Kenya to develop national education sector plans, improve early grade mathematics and strengthen school management systems. Through UK support to the Girls’ Education Challenge, we are also improving learning opportunities and outcomes for Kenya’s most marginalised girls. In partnership with the Kenyan Ministry of Education in 2015, DFID provided funding to rigorously test a new structured approach to early grade teaching. The approach helped teachers better meet the needs of all students, provided continual coaching and monitoring, and improved teaching materials. The Kenyan Government scaled the approach nationwide. Independent research shows this reform led to the percentage of grade two children meeting learning benchmarks in English rising from 34% to 65%.

Kenya: Education

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps he is taking to ensure that girls in Kenya who become pregnant are able to re-enter education.

Andrew Stephenson: DFID is helping to improve life opportunities and learning outcomes for the most vulnerable girls in Kenya including those who are pregnant, through our £154 million Girls Education Challenge (GEC) programme. Through investments in catch up classes, financial assistance, and support for life skills and confidence building, GEC is supporting girls who are pregnant and young mothers, to re-enter education.

Kenya: Education

Stephen Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what discussions he has had with the Kenyan Government on the implementation of the National Re-entry Guidelines for Learners in Basic Education.

Andrew Stephenson: The Secretary of State has not yet had the opportunity to meet representatives of the Kenyan Government.DFID officials continue to discuss the importance of inclusive education with senior representatives at the Ministry of Education, although DFID has not been consulted on the draft National Re-entry Guidelines for Learners in Basic Education. DFID support through the Global Partnership for Education and the Girls’ Education Challenge Fund helps to improve access to education and learning for the most vulnerable children, including support for re-entry.

Palestinians: Curriculum

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what progress has been made on the review of the Palestinian Authority schools' curriculum.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Developing Countries: Abortion

Sir Edward Leigh: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, which organisations have been funded by his Department to provide abortion services; and how much funding each such organisation has been allocated in each of the last five years.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Developing Countries: Living Wage

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what funding her Department has allocated to programmes supporting the payment of living wages in global value chains; and whether this funding is supporting workers in the cocoa sector.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Developing Countries: Personal Income

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to her Department's Economic Development Strategy, what steps she is taking to track progress towards the achievement of living incomes in developing countries.

Andrew Stephenson: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Education

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to reform the personal, social, health and economic curriculum to teach pupils about children from different cultural backgrounds.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will have discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on increasing per pupil funding for schools.

Gavin Williamson: I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Hendon to the answer I gave on 4 September 2019 to Question 282367.

Department for Education: Ministerial Duties

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the ministerial responsibilities are of Ministers in his Department.

Gavin Williamson: Holding answer received on 03 September 2019



It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Education: Finance

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Prime Minister of 25 July 2019, whether his policy to restore education funding to its previous level applies to all education spending; and to what year's total spending it will be restored.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Higher Education: Pensions

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect on jobs of the decision not to increase funding for higher education institutions with increased pension costs as a result of changes to public sector pensions at (a) Portsmouth University and (b) higher education institutions across the UK.

Gavin Williamson: I refer the hon. Member for Portsmouth South to the answer given by the former Minister of State (Jo Johnson), my right hon. Friend for Orpington on 8 August 2019 to 281106.

Universities: Antisemitism

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many universities have signed up to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism.

Gavin Williamson: The government has urged all higher education providers (HEPs) to consider adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition. It is a useful tool which will help front-line services better understand and recognise instances of antisemitism. However, HEPs are autonomous organisations who are independent from the government. Each individual provider will decide if, and how they wish to implement the IHRA definition. The government does not gather this data.

Department for Education: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many parents use the 30 hours free childcare scheme.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the 30 hour free childcare scheme in England in the 2018-19 financial year.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people used the 30 hours free childcare scheme in England in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the 30 hour free childcare scheme in England in the 2017-18 financial year.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children use the 30 hours free childcare scheme.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: We want parents to have access to a range of affordable childcare, giving them increased flexibility in their working hours and helping children thrive in the crucial early years. That is why the department is investing £3.5 billion in our early education offers this year alone. The cost of 30 hours free childcare is set in table 1, attached. The total for 2017-18 is due to rounding.The number of children that have benefitted from 30 hours free childcare in each year is set out in table 2, attached.In total, around 600,000 children aged 3 and 4 years old benefitted from a 30 hours place throughout the first 2 years of delivery.We do not hold data on estimates of the number of parents that have benefitted from the 30 hours entitlement in England.



284299_284395_284402_285420_285422_table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 42.5 KB)

Climate Change: Education

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that environmentalism is in the National Curriculum; and what guidance his Department provides on teaching about climate change.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation..

Higher Education: Wansbeck

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students in Wansbeck constituency went on to higher education in each of the last five years.

Gavin Williamson: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service publishes data on the proportion of 18 year olds entering full-time undergraduate higher education by parliamentary constituency. The entry rates for the last 5 years for Wansbeck constituency are shown in the table below. 18-year-old entry rates to full-time higher education Year2014/152015/162016/172017/182018/19Entry Rate26.930.331.132.526.7

Higher Education: Wansbeck

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of students from Wansbeck constituency who went on to study higher education did so (a) at a university outside of the North East region and (b) at a local university in each of the last five years.

Gavin Williamson: Information on students enrolled in UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is collected and published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). More information is available at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk. The number of undergraduate higher education entrants who were domiciled in the Wansbeck constituency prior to study in each year between 2013/14 and 2017/18 has been provided in the table, as has whether these students joined an HEI located local to the North East region or not. Undergraduate entrants domiciled in Wansbeck constituency prior to studyUK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)Academic years 2013/14 to 2017/18 Source: DfE analysis of the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA) Student Record Academic YearUndergraduate entrants from Wansbeck constituency Count of entrantsShare of entrants (%) North EastOtherTotalNorth EastOtherTotal2013/1442025567062%38%100%2014/1542526569061%39%100%2015/1637026063059%41%100%2016/1733527060555%45%100%2017/1837024060561%39%100%  Notes:1) Figures are based on the HESA standard registration population.2) Figures are rounded to the nearest 5.3) Parliamentary constituency is derived from the student's postcode prior to study. Statistics for the 2018/19 academic year will come available in January 2020.

Schools: Costs

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the cost of agency fees on schools.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Teachers: Vacancies

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the performance of the Teaching Vacancies service.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Costs

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to reduce the cost to schools of teacher recruitment agency fees.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Finance

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has plans to increase the level of funding for schools in England to a minimum of £5,000 per pupil.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Pupil Referral Units: Private Education

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department holds information on the number of pupils attending pupil referral units who were previously educated in the private sector.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Pupil Exclusions: Private Education

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information his Department holds on the number of pupils who have been excluded from private schools in (a) Lewisham, (b) London and (c) England in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

School Exclusions Review

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Timpson review of school exclusion: Government response, published in May 2019, what progress his Department has made on providing guidance on the use of in-school units and managed moves; and what the timetable is for his Department's consultation on that guidance.

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Timpson review of school exclusions, when his Department plans to issue updated guidance on school exclusions to schools.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

School Exclusions Review

James Frith: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Timpson review of school exclusion: Government response, published in May 2019, what progress his Department has made on establishing the practice programme to embed effective partnership working to better equip schools to intervene early for children at risk of exclusion.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Finance

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on schools hosting Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children of proposed reforms to the mobility factor of the national funding formula.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress his Department has made on developing a national method for funding mobility as part of the national funding formula for schools.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase funding for schools that experience high levels of in-flowing, mobile pupils throughout the academic year.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Boarding Schools: Special Educational Needs

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many residential schools for children with special educational needs have had their OFSTED registration cancelled because of safeguarding concerns in each of the last ten years.

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many residential schools for children with special educational needs closed in each of the last ten years.

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the closure of St Christopher's residential school for children with special educational needs in Bristol, how many pupils have been found an equivalent school place within one hour's journey time from their family home.

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what provision is being made for former pupils of St Christopher's residential school for children with special educational needs in Bristol who have not been found an equivalent school place.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Assessments: Autism

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of (a) the adequacy of support available to autistic children sitting exams for Ofqual regulated qualifications in (i) secondary schools and (ii) sixth form colleges and (b) whether autistic children are disadvantaged by the exams set for Ofqual regulated qualifications; and what discussions his Department has had with (A) Ofqual and (B) examination boards on designing exams that are better suited to the needs of autistic children.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sex and Relationship Education

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to make LGBT-inclusive relationships and sex education compulsory in all schools.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

History: Education

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to encourage the teaching and learning of (a) Anglo-Saxon history and (b) Old English in schools.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Equality: Education

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all schools teach every part of the Equality Act 2010.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to increase the number of hours of free childcare.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Universities: Admissions

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the report on University Aspirations 2019 by the Sutton Trust on 15 August 2019.

Gavin Williamson: Widening access and participation in higher education (HE) is a priority for this government. This means that everyone with the capability to succeed in HE should have the opportunity, regardless of their background or where they grew up. Whilst we have made real progress, (the latest data for 2019 shows that the entry rate for 18-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds has continued to increase) more could and should be done. That is why the government asked the Office for Students to encourage providers, particularly the most selective institutions, to make further progress in ensuring that disadvantaged and underrepresented students can access, participate and succeed in HE.The department will consider the implications of the Sutton Report on University Aspirations on access and participation policy in due course.

Department for Education: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what meetings his Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

Pupils: Per Capita Costs

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the value of per pupil funding for secondary school pupils in July (a) 2016 and (b) 2018.

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the value of per pupil funding for primary school pupils in July (a) 2016 and (b) 2018.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Students: Mental Health Services

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that families of a student with mental health problems at university are kept updated on the mental health of that student.

Gavin Williamson: Mental health is a priority for this government, which is why we continue to work closely with the sector on issues including the disclosure of students’ mental health concerns to their families.We have asked Universities UK (UUK) to explore an opt-in requirement for higher education providers, which would give providers permission to share information on a student’s mental health with a trusted person. UUK are developing an information sharing consensus and guidance for the sector, which will be launched later this year. This work has been informed by consultation with students and the sector and will seek to balance ensuring students, as young adults, are at the centre of any decisions made about their care with giving students every possible opportunity to choose to receive support from families and trusted friends.

Pupils: Oldham

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has had with Oldham Council on the potential effect on EU students enrolled in Oldham schools of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Oldham

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has had with Oldham Council on the potential effect on EU nationals teaching in Oldham schools of UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Voluntary Schools: Finance

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department will announce whether two further voluntary aided schools are receiving state funding to open.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Special Educational Needs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has plans to update the SEND Code of Practice to in relation to the duties of schools supporting children with SEND to include Ofsted's terminology in a definition of off-rolling.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Psychology and Psychiatry: Training

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many child (a) psychologists and (b) psychiatrists completed training in each of the last 10 years.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sex and Relationship Education

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to (a) increase awareness of (i) domestic violence and (ii) sexual exploitation and (b) promote positive relationship education.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of research into the level of self-control of a child as a predictor of well-being and attainment.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Free Schools: Hampstead and Kilburn

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department has spent on the proposed Abacus Free School project in Hampstead and Kilburn constituency.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Social Services

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2019 to Question 216293, on Children: Social Services, whether his Department is responsible for monitoring (a) the effectiveness of and (b) errors in the use of (i) Xantura and (ii) other predictive algorithm technologies used in children’s social care.

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2019 to Question 216293, on Children: Social Services, whether his Department has allocated specific funding to local authorities to facilitate the use of (a) Xantura and (b) other predictive algorithm technologies in children’s social care.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The department does not allocate any specific funding to local authorities to facilitate the use of Xantura and other predictive algorithm technologies in children’s social care. It also does not collect information on which local authorities use Xantura or other predictive algorithm technologies in children’s social care. The department has commissioned a consortium led by Nesta to set up the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care. The centre is currently conducting a project that looks at the use of predictive analytics in local authorities. The report is due for publication in spring 2020.

Frontline

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the completion rate of the Frontline programme.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The University of Cardiff has been commissioned to conduct an independent assessment of retention and progression of participants completing the Frontline programme. We intend to publish an interim report by the end of 2019.

Teesside University

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has had with Teesside University on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Gavin Williamson: Department for Education officials have been working closely with higher education (HE) representative bodies including Universities UK, Independent HE, Guild HE, the Russell Group and others (representing the full spectrum of HE providers across the UK) on exiting the EU preparations. In all scenarios, the objective was to not only understand any concerns from universities but to also communicate policy. The department has also published a number of notices providing advice and guidance to support the HE sector to prepare for exiting the EU. We will continue to update these as relevant, ensuring that HE institutions are aware of these updates. The government has also launched a public information campaign to ensure that UK citizens, businesses, HE providers and EU citizens living in the UK, as well as UK nationals living in the EU, are well informed about how exiting the EU will affect them.

Pre-school Education: Finance

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has plans to allocate additional funding to early years education.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Higher Education: Equal Pay

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the gender pay gap in higher education (a) at Coventry University, (b) at Warwick University and (c) in the UK.

Gavin Williamson: Since April 2017, employers with more than 250 staff are required by law to annually report gender pay gap information. All of the gender pay gap data published by organisations, including Coventry University and Warwick University, is available on the government’s reporting website: https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/.

Academies

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in (a) Coventry and (b) the UK are planning to become new academy schools within the next 12 months.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Pre-school Education: Coventry

Mr Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number of children accessing the free early education entitlement for under two-year-olds in Coventry.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The government does not offer a funded early education entitlement for under 2-year-olds.For families with children under 2, the government provides support with up to 85% of childcare costs through Universal Credit and parents being given £2 for every £8 spent on childcare through Tax-Free Childcare. As of January 2019, 1,102 2-year-old children benefited from funded early years education at providers within Coventry local authority. The number of 2-year-old children benefiting from funded early years education by region and local authority is available within Table 1LA at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/education-provision-children-under-5-years-of-age-january-2019. The percentage of 2-year-old children benefiting from funded early education can be found within Table 8LA.

STEM Subjects: Females

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many women have started courses in STEM subjects at colleges in Dudley in the most recent period for which information is available.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Literacy: Primary Education

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to help increase literacy rates of Key Stage 1 students from lower income households in (a) Dudley and (b) England.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Teachers: Pay Settlements

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 September 2019 to Question 281772, which departmental budget the £105m transferred into the Teachers' Pay Grant in the current financial year was drawn from.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Vale View School Stockport: School Day

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 September 2019 to Question 282244, whether Vale View Primary School in Stockport formally approached his Department on its proposal to shorten the school week; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: The Department has not been formally approached by Vale View Primary School on its proposal to shorten the school week due to funding.All schools have the autonomy to decide the structure and duration of their school day, which includes the flexibility to decide when their school day should start and finish. The Department trusts that headteachers will do this in a sensible manner. All maintained schools are required to educate pupils for at least 380 sessions each school year. They cannot reduce the length of the school week if this would take the total number of sessions below that.If schools are considering reducing their school week, where it is not a direct action to support and enhance their pupils' education, the Department would expect schools to take appropriate precautions and approach relevant parties for advice, before taking such action.

Schools: Vocational Guidance

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of careers advisers employed in schools.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The information requested is not held centrally. We do not collect data from schools about the number of careers advisers which they employ.To target more support on those who need it most, the government announced £2.5million of funding for innovative, cost effective models for delivering personal careers guidance in schools and colleges. The funding will be used for personal guidance for young people, the training and ongoing continuing professional development of career guidance professionals and the development of a pipeline of qualified career guidance professionals for the future.The careers strategy makes clear that personal guidance from a qualified practitioner is important to support young people to make choices about their education, training and careers.Secondary schools and colleges are responsible for making sure their students receive independent careers guidance with a qualified careers adviser whenever significant study or career choices are being made.We expect all schools to work towards meeting the 8 Gatsby Career Benchmarks by the end of 2020. The Gatsby Benchmark on personal guidance advises that all young people should have a careers interview by the age of 16, and the opportunity for one further such interview by age 18.

Food Supply: Schools

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will hold discussions with Oldham Council on the effect on food supplies in schools in that Council of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The department has issued formal guidance for schools and local authorities on preparations for a no-deal EU exit. The guidance for schools is published here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-exit-no-deal-preparations-for-schools-in-england/eu-exit-no-deal-preparations-for-schools-in-england.The guidance for local authorities is published here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/eu-exit-no-deal-preparations-for-local-authority-childrens-services-in-england.I have asked officials to contact Oldham Council to offer a conversation on this matter. In addition, Oldham Council, and any other local authority, are welcome to contact the department to discuss any issues relating to school food provision.

Primary Education: Surrey

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the availability of primary school places in (a) Woking constituency and (b) Surrey.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Finance

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what representations he has received on equalising the level of schools funding for local authorities.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Financial Services: Secondary Education

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of provision of teaching of financial literacy in secondary schools.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Finance

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent progress he has made towards delivering a fairer national funding formula for schools.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Inspections

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will provide additional funding to Ofsted to carry out additional inspections when schools previously rated Outstanding are no longer exempt from routine inspection.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Teachers: Pay

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the cost to schools of increasing starting salaries for teachers to £30,000.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Surrey

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent representations he has received on school standards in Surrey.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Teachers: Pay Settlements

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to apply national pay settlements for teachers to academy schools.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Finance

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to implement a schools level national funding formula; and if he will make a statement.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

School Meals: Standards

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether it is his policy to maintain his Department’s current school food standards in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on food standards in schools.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The department expects that all schools will meet the School Food Standards in a no-deal scenario. Our standards ensure that schools meals are healthy and nutritious, and restrict the amount of fat, sugar and salt that can be served during the school day.The UK has a high level of food security built upon a diverse range of sources, including strong domestic production and imports from other countries. This will continue to be the case whether we leave the EU with or without a deal. The government is working in partnership with food suppliers to ensure this continues.Our guidance for schools in relation to this matter is published on GOV.UK at:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eu-exit-no-deal-preparations-for-schools-in-england/eu-exit-no-deal-preparations-for-schools-in-england.

Further Education: Per Capita Costs

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his oral statement of 3 September 2019 on education funding, what the new base rate for per student funding in 2020-21 will be for (a) further education colleges and (b) sixth forms.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The government will invest an extra £400 million in 16-19 education in 2020-21. This is an increase of 7% in overall 16-19 funding and the biggest year-on-year increase since 2010, with funding increasing faster for 16-19 than in 5-16 schooling. This will ensure that we are building the skills that our country needs to thrive in the future. As part of this, the base rate of funding for all types of providers, including both colleges and sixth forms, will be increased by 4.7% in academic year 2020/21, from £4,000 to £4,188 per student.

Music: Education

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase funding for music education in schools.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

GCE A-level and GCSE

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of grade inflation in (a) GCSEs and (b) A Levels since 2010.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Education: Finance

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to his oral statement of 3 September 2019, Official Report, column 65, on education funding, which courses will be eligible for funding from the £120 million for high-cost subjects; and how that funding will be distributed.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Pre-school Education: Finance

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of the £66 million in early years funding announced in the 2019 Spending Review will be allocated to maintained nursery schools.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.10 of Spending Round 2019, how the £66 million will be distributed between (a) state maintained nurseries and (b) private, voluntary, and independent childcare settings.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Apprentices: Taxation

Gordon Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether all returned unspent apprenticeship levy monies are being allocated to the apprenticeship budget for use by non-levy paying employers.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Apprentices: Taxation

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much apprenticeship levy was paid by levy employers in (a) May 2017 and expired in May 2019, (b) June 2017 and expired in June 2019 and (c) July 2017 and expired in July 2019 as a result of the funds not having been used.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Free School Meals: Barnsley

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children in primary schools in Barnsley who were eligible for free school meals in each year since 2010.

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of children in secondary schools in Barnsley were eligible for free school meals in each year since 2010.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Apprentices: Barnsley

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships starts there were in Barnsley in each year since 2010.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Higher Education: Yorkshire and the Humber

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of young people in (a) Barnsley, (b) Barnsley East constituency, (c) South Yorkshire and (d) Yorkshire and the Humber commenced study at a higher education institution in each year since 2010.

Gavin Williamson: The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) publishes data on the proportion of 18 year olds entering full-time undergraduate higher education by parliamentary constituency and region. UCAS do not publish data by local authority or county.The entry rates since 2010/11 for Barnsley East constituency and Yorkshire and the Humber are shown in the table A attachment.The department publishes data on the percentage of 15 year old pupils from state-funded and special schools who entered higher education by age 19 by local authority and region.The latest figures for Barnsley and Yorkshire and the Humber are shown in the table B attachment.Figures are not published at county level. 



286831_Table_A
(Excel SpreadSheet, 56 KB)




286831_Table_B
(Excel SpreadSheet, 55 KB)

T-levels

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has had with industry on the importance of T levels for the economy.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

STEM Subjects

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has had with the industrial sector on the importance of STEM skills for the economy.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Artificial Intelligence

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has had with (a) academia and (b) industry on the (i) implications of and (ii) opportunities for the economy of artificial intelligence.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Day Care

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 3 September 2019 to Question 281567 on Children: Day Care, to which constituencies the £9.1 million was allocated.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Day Care

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 September 2019 to Question 281570 on Children: Day Care, how many local authority areas did not meet the duty to provide sufficient childcare in the latest period for which data is available.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 July 2019 to Question 278348 on Pupils: Disadvantaged, whether he has made an assessment of trends in the level of attainment of children whose families are in receipt of universal credit.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Day Care

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2019 to Question 278350 on Children: Day Care, how many short breaks local authorities provided for disabled children and their families in each (a) region and (b) local authority area in each year from 2011.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Charitable Donations

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 July 2019 to Question 278353 on Schools: Charitable Donations, how the income generated by schools is distributed across schools.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Charitable Donations

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 July 2019 to Question 278353 on Schools: Charitable Donations, what the income was in cash terms from (a) donations and (b) voluntary funds in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Charitable Donations

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 July 2019 to Question 278353 on Schools: Charitable Donations, what the income was in cash terms that was generated was by schools in each year since 2010.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Assessments: Fraud

Sir Jeffrey M. Donaldson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of (a) exam boards and (b) the A level system; and what plans he has to compensate students that have been disadvantaged as a result of the leaking of exam papers by (i) exam boards and (ii) education providers.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Apprentices: Wolverhampton

Emma Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeships have been created in Wolverhampton North East constituency under the apprenticeship levy in each of the last 12 months.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation

Children: Daycare

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to paragraph 2.10 of Spending Round 2019 published on 4 September 2019, what the average hourly funding rate for delivering the Government's free hours offers (a) was in 2018-19 and (b) will be in 2019-20.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many teachers of personal, social and health education have specific accreditation in relation to that subject.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the promotion and teaching of emotional intelligence in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Antisocial Behaviour

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the effect of low emotional intelligence on levels of childhood delinquency.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what research his Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated on the effect of levels of emotional intelligence on (i) behavioural, (ii) cognitive and (iii) biological and physical development.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Children: Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the relative position of the UK in international comparator tables on the well-being of children.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Shropshire

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much of the additional funding for education has been allocated to schools in Shropshire.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Secondary Education: Surrey

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to help meet the demand for secondary school places in Surrey.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

GCSE: Mansfield

Ben Bradley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many GCSE entries for arts subjects there were from students in Mansfield in each of the last five years.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Education: EU Nationals

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether children who are EU citizens will require settled status to be eligible for state education after 31 October 2019 in the event that the UK leaves the EU without an agreement.

Nick Gibb: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Schools: Finance

Sir Henry Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to increase the level of funding for schools.

Nick Gibb: We have committed an extra £14 billion to schools in England over the next three years. This will bring the schools budget to £52.2 billion in 2022-23. This will allow funding increases for all schools. In particular, every secondary school will receive a minimum of at least £5,000 per pupil next year, with every primary school getting a minimum of at least £4,000 from 2021-22. This is the largest cash boost in a generation and has only been possible because of our balanced approach to the public finances and careful stewardship of the economy since 2010.

*No heading*

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the provision of free drinking water in schools.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: Legislation already states pupils must have access at all times to free, fresh drinking water. Schools are best placed to decide how to offer this. If water is not available parents should raise this through the school’s complaints policy. No teacher should be refusing a child water. If the hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West is aware of any situation where this is taking place I would encourage her to write to the department.

*No heading*

Henry Smith: What assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of funding allocated to schools in Crawley constituency.

Nick Gibb: For 2019-20 schools in Crawley attracted 5.6% more funding per pupil compared to 2017-18. This is an additional £235 per pupil. The additional funding announced last week means further increases for every school in Crawley over the next three years. School-level details will be announced in due course.

*No heading*

Marsha De Cordova: What estimate his Department has made of the number of children who went hungry over the 2019 school summer holiday.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: We do not collect this information, but our Holiday Activities and Food programme has supported children from disadvantaged families over the last 2 summers.In 2018, we provided £2 million funding that reached over 18,000 pupils.This year, we more than quadrupled our funding, so that even more disadvantaged children benefitted from healthy food and enriching activities.

Leader of the House

Leader of the House of Commons: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Leader of the House, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg: The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons is part of the Cabinet Office and is supported by Cabinet Office staff. I refer the Hon. member to question 285090 and the answer to be provided by the Department. Spend on refreshments is paid in accordance with the Department’s procedures.

Leader of the House of Commons: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Leader of the House, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Leader of the House, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Mr Jacob Rees-Mogg: The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons is part of the Cabinet Office and is supported by Cabinet Office staff. I refer the Hon. member to question 284952 and the answer to be provided by the Department.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Sheep Meat: UK Trade with EU

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what contingency funding he has allocated for the (a) slaughter, (b) burial and (c) disposal of lamb carcasses in the event that there is a decrease in the export of lamb if the UK leaves the EU without an agreement.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Dutch Elm Disease: Disease Control

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to (a) support local authorities managing and tackling elm disease and (b) ensure that Brighton and Hove City Council has adequate support to protect the National Elm Collection in the city.

Zac Goldsmith: Landowners are responsible for managing the trees on their land. All Local Authorities, including Brighton and Hove, have been provided with the legislative powers necessary to safeguard the nation’s elm population and prevent the spread of elm disease. These powers are set out in the Dutch Elm Disease (Local Authorities) Order 1984. They allow officers (appointed by the Local Authority) who suspect the presence of this disease to enter any land to inspect trees and take samples, and where disease is present, to take action to eradicate it. Government has a strong risk-based biosecurity response to reduce the pest and disease risk to trees involving comprehensive international and domestic surveillance, stringent border biosecurity, robust contingency plans and world leading research. Government invests over £30million per year on our plant health service.

Climate Change

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the July 2019 Progress Report to Parliament published by the Committee on Climate Change, for what reasons 21 of the 56 risks and opportunities identified in the UK’s Climate Change Risk Assessment have no formal actions in the National Adaptation Programme.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Veterinary Medicine: ICT

Chuka Umunna: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what parts of the Government’s plan for accessing animal medicine IT systems in the event of a no deal Brexit have been implemented.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Animal Welfare: Licensing

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many local authorities in England have submitted data for 2019 on the number of licences they have issued under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018.

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, how many licences have been issued under those regulations in 2019 for (a) breeding dogs, (b) providing or arranging for the provision of boarding for cats, (c) providing or arranging for the provision of boarding for dogs in kennels, (d) providing or arranging for the provision of day care for dogs, (e) hiring out horses, (f) selling animals as pets and (g) keeping or training animals for exhibition.

Angela Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018, what the (a) average fee and (b) lowest and highest charges for licences issued in England in 2019 to date across all local authorities was for (i) breeding dogs, (ii) providing or arranging for the provision of boarding for cats, (iii) providing or arranging for the provision of boarding for dogs in kennels, (iv) providing or arranging for the provision of day care for dogs, (v) hiring out horses, (vi) selling animals as pets and (vii) keeping or training animals for exhibition.

Zac Goldsmith: Under regulation 29 of The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 it is a requirement for local authorities in England to submit specified information relating to licensable activities in their respective areas. Such information should be submitted to the Secretary of State by 31 May for each preceding year 1 April to 31 March. Local authorities have submitted information to the Secretary of State for this year and Defra is analysing the data. We aim to publish the information later this year.

Food Supply

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on food (a) supply and (b) disruption in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal on 31 October 2019.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Air Pollution: Birmingham

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to ensure the delivery of the software required for the implementation of the Birmingham Clean Air Zone by February 2020.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Air Pollution: Birmingham

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he plans to provide support to Birmingham City Council to implement a system to collect payment for the Clean Air Zone.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Air Pollution: Birmingham

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to pass on any fines Birmingham City Council may incur as a result of breaches in air quality attributable to the late implementation of the charging Clean Air Zone.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Biodegradability

Kirstene Hair: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with the Scottish Government on the Scottish Government's targets relating to the ending of biodegradable municipal waste being sent to landfill by 2021.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Clean Air Zones: Birmingham

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment he has made of the ability of his Department to support Birmingham City Council in implementing a system to collect payments from the proposed Clean Air Zone.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sheep Meat: UK Trade with EU

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2019 to Question 278471, what estimate he has made of the number of cubic metres of cold meat storage that will be available to store sheep meat on 1 November 2019 in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

George Eustice: We remain focused on ensuring our smooth and orderly withdrawal from the EU with a deal as soon as possible. However, as a responsible Government we have been preparing to minimise any disruption in the event of a no deal. Defra Ministers and officials have been meeting regularly with the food and farming industry to understand the potential impacts of a no deal scenario in October and to support contingency planning by industry. This has included working to understand storage capacity in the UK at that time of year and the likely industry-led response to any potential disruption. The Government is developing a number of potential interventions to help sheep producers should assistance be required in the event of EU exit without a Withdrawal Agreement. Our preference is to consider financial support to farmers to offset part of the lost income caused by market disruption rather than to purchase and store lamb. There is insufficient storage capacity to intervene in the lamb market in any meaningful way and the likely worst case scenarios are best addressed through income support in the short term. Ultimately our aim is to continue trading and exporting our sheep meat post 1 November 2019. With third country listing from the EU, we will continue to be able to export lamb to the EU, and our exports to third countries will not be affected. The expertise, capability, levers and resilience to plan for and respond to supply chain disruption lies within the industry, and Defra will continue its close working with industry to support their contingency planning.

Sheep Meat

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July to Question 278955, what the economic basis is for an increase in the availability of lamb on the domestic market potentially leading to an increase in international demand for UK sheep meat products.

George Eustice: We remain focused on ensuring our smooth and orderly withdrawal from the EU with a deal as soon as possible. However, as a responsible Government we have been preparing to minimise any disruption in the event of a no deal. The short term impacts of no deal are likely to be significant for some sectors. Of particular concern is the sheep sector, as over 30% of UK production is exported, approximately 95% of which is to the EU. In the event of no deal, we expect exports to the EU to fall as the result of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade. This will increase the supply of lamb on the domestic market, which may in turn depress the domestic price for lamb. With lamb consumption on a long term downward trend we would expect this to lead to an increase in domestic consumption. Lower domestic prices will also make UK lamb more attractive to markets outside the EU. Developing market access and increasing UK exports remains a high priority with collaboration across Government and industry to identify priority markets. UK lamb exports to non-EU countries had a value of £15.2 million in 2018. In January 2019, Defra successfully opened the market for lamb exports to Japan following its two decade long ban on imports from the UK. The market is estimated to be worth approximately £52 million over the first five years of access. The Japanese market has a growing demand for high quality lamb and Defra’s Food is GREAT campaign has already built lamb promotion into its activity there, showcasing UK lamb and beef to Japanese consumers, trade and media in April. The campaign will continue to promote lamb in Japan during September and October, capitalising on the cultural hook of the Rugby World Cup. In December 2018 Defra opened the market for lamb exports to India. The new agreement, which covers a range of sheep meat cuts, is estimated by industry to be worth £6 million in the next five years.

Tree Planting

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to increase the number of trees planted in (a) Lincolnshire and (b) the UK.

Zac Goldsmith: Forestry is a devolved matter and these figures apply to England only. The Government remains committed to planting 11 million trees this parliament, and to the shared aspiration of reaching 12% woodland cover in England by 2060. We have amended our main grant schemes to make applications easier by streamlining the application processes, opening the Countryside Stewardship Woodland Creation window all year round and reducing the threshold of applications from 30 hectares to 10 hectares for Woodland Carbon Fund applications. We have invested £5.7 million in the new Northern Forest; and announced a further £10 million for urban trees and £50 million for the Woodland Carbon Guarantee scheme. We have planted approximately 16 million trees in England since 2010, of which approximately 437,000 have been planted across Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire.

Milk: Bottles

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to promote the sale of milk in reusable glass bottles.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Trondheim Conference on Biodiversity

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether a Minister of his Department attended the Trondheim conference on biodiversity in July 2019.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Primates: Pets

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the scale of the problem of primates being kept and traded as pets in the UK.

Zac Goldsmith: There is no doubt that primates are complex creatures requiring specialist care. I recently met with the owner of a leading specialist primate rescue centre who informed me about the rising numbers they are having to take from private care. Given these issues I am looking at the options for banning the trade altogether. In the meantime, we have strict laws in place restricting the keeping of primates and action can be taken if a primate is being kept in poor welfare conditions. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is an offence to cause any unnecessary suffering to an animal or to fail to provide for its welfare. The 2006 Act is backed up by the statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Privately Kept Non-human Primates that provides essential information for any primate keeper on how to meet the welfare needs of the primates in their care. The Code is made under the 2006 Act and can be used as evidence in court in support of a prosecution made under the 2006 Act. If anyone has any concerns about the way a primate is being kept they should report to the relevant local authority, who have powers to investigate such issues, or to the RSPCA who can also investigate and take action. In addition to the animal welfare controls, the keeping of most primates requires a licence under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 (DWAA), which is issued by a local authority. The DWAA licence is primarily to ensure public safety is protected. The trade of primates is regulated through a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) licensing system. Under this system, the international, commercial trade of the most endangered primates is prohibited, except under exceptional circumstances. Whilst it is not in itself a welfare measure, CITES does contain welfare provisions for the transport, keeping and moving of animals, including primates.

Primates: Pets

Lyn Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of further restricting the keeping of primates as pets beyond that set out in section 4 and section 9 the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

Zac Goldsmith: There is no doubt that primates are complex creatures requiring specialist care. I recently met with the owner of a leading specialist primate rescue centre who informed me about the rising numbers they are having to take from private care. Given these issues I am looking at the options for banning the trade altogether.In the meantime, we have strict laws in place restricting the keeping of primates and action can be taken if a primate is being kept in poor welfare conditions. Under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, it is an offence to cause any unnecessary suffering to an animal or to fail to provide for its welfare.The 2006 Act is backed up by the statutory Code of Practice for the Welfare of Privately Kept Non-human Primates that provides essential information for any primate keeper on how to meet the welfare needs of the primates in their care. The Code is made under the 2006 Act and can be used as evidence in court in support of a prosecution made under the 2006 Act.If anyone has any concerns about the way a primate is being kept they should report to the relevant local authority, who have powers to investigate such issues, or to the RSPCA who can also investigate and take action.In addition to the animal welfare controls, the keeping of most primates requires a licence under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 (DWAA), which is issued by a local authority. The DWAA licence is primarily to ensure public safety is protected.The trade of primates is regulated through a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) licensing system. Under this system, the international, commercial trade of the most endangered primates is prohibited, except under exceptional circumstances. Whilst it is not in itself a welfare measure, CITES does contain welfare provisions for the transport, keeping and moving of animals, including primates.

Eggs: Imports

Mr David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the British Egg Industry Council on food safety standards for imported egg products after the UK leaves the EU.

Zac Goldsmith: The Secretary of State has not had any recent discussions with the British Egg Industry Council on food safety standards for imported egg products after the UK leaves the EU. Food safety policy is the responsibility of the Food Standards Agency.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Cycling

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department has spent on schemes to encourage staff of his Department to cycle to work since 2015; and how much his Department has spent on (a) installing bicycle racks and (b) bonus schemes for bicycle use in that time period.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Palm Oil

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to (a) ensure that corporations adhere to regulations on the declaration on packaging of the use of palm oil in their products and (b) enforce other regulations on the use by those organisations of that oil in their products.

Zac Goldsmith: The EU Regulation (1169/2011) on the Provision of Food Information to Consumers requires that where vegetable oils or fats are listed in the ingredients of food, the vegetable origin of the oil must be given (Annex VII, Part A.8.). Food Business Operators are responsible for ensuring that the correct information is provided on labels and that consumers are not misled. Along with all food information regulations, these requirements are enforced by Trading Standards Officers.

Packaging: Recycling

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions her officials have had with supermarket representative on the (a) presence and (b) clarity of information about recycling on product packaging.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Packaging: Recycling

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what data her Department collects on the clarity of information about recycling on product packaging sold in supermarkets.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Climate Change: Clothing

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Environmental Audit Committee report, Fixing Fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability, published on 19 February, HC 1952, if she will make an assessment of the recommendations of that report in light of the Government's commitment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Litter: Fines

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the maximum fine for littering.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Litter

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to tackle littering in the UK.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Nature Conservation

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to prevent endangered plant and animal species coming into the UK.

Zac Goldsmith: The Government is committed to the conservation and protection of wildlife and we play a leading role internationally in addressing threats to endangered species; for instance through our membership of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Under our obligations as a party to CITES, the Government regulates trade in listed endangered species into the UK under a permitting regime; safeguarding such species from over-exploitation and with the aim of ensuring that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. Defra coordinates across policy, scientific authorities and enforcement authorities, and engages closely with stakeholders in the UK, to ensure we continue to deliver on our international commitments to protect endangered species under CITES.

Nature Conservation: Crime

Andrew Percy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings she has had with her international counterparts on tackling wildlife crime.

Zac Goldsmith: Defra Ministers have had numerous meetings with their international counterparts in the last year to discuss efforts to protect endangered species from unsustainable and illegal trade and to follow up on commitments made at the international illegal wildlife trade conference held in London last October. I look forward to continuing discussions on this important issue when I meet with my international counterparts in the future.

Hunting

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has plans to review the ban on fox-hunting.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Plastics: Pollution

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has plans to review Government policy on tackling plastics pollution.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Hill Farming: Countryside Stewardship Scheme

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what representations she has received from farmers on the operation of the Countryside Stewardship scheme in upland areas especially from farmers not offered a continuation in Higher Level Stewardship schemes.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Countryside Stewardship Scheme

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she make an assessment of the potential merits of offering Higher Level Stewardship rollovers to agreements expiring throughout the transition period in order to maintain environmental delivery and offer stabilisation to farmers struggling to engage with Countryside Stewardship for reasons beyond their control.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Water Abstraction

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to ensure water companies responsibly manage their water abstraction activities from chalk streams.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Beverage Containers: Recycling

Mrs Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce the number of recyclable cups and bottles sent to landfill.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Food Supply

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to ensure that public services that (a) care homes, (b) schools, (c) hospitals and (d) prisons will have adequate supplies of food in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Zac Goldsmith: We remain focused on ensuring our smooth and orderly withdrawal from the EU with a deal as soon as possible. As a responsible Government, for almost three years we have been undertaking extensive work to prepare for a no deal scenario and minimise disruption to ensure trade continues to operate smoothly from the day we leave. The UK has a high degree of food security built on access to a range of sources, including strong domestic production and imports from other countries. This will not change whether we leave the EU with or without a deal. Defra, as the lead Government department for food supply, has long established relationships with industry, and we are working closely with key stakeholders to prepare for all scenarios. Public sector food provision for specific sectors including hospitals, prisons, schools and care settings is led by the relevant Government departments. However, Defra has been working closely with lead departments (DfE, DHSC, MOJ, MOD) to support their contingency planning for food supply to public services. Defra is providing advice and support to these departments especially to support their engagement with the food industry. Lead Government departments are engaging with key suppliers for schools, hospitals and prisons to ensure the supply chain is prepared and supply is maintained.

Wildlife: Animal Welfare

Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the provisions of the Wild Animals in Circuses (No.2) Act 2019 applies to wild animals used in public parades.

Zac Goldsmith: The Wild Animals in Circuses Act 2019 prohibits the use of wild animals as part of a travelling circus in England. A wild animal is used in a travelling circus if the animal performs or is exhibited as part of the circus. The Government has committed to issue guidance covering, amongst other things, activities that it considers will and will not be prohibited by the Act.

Waste: Exports

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of people prosecuted for illegal waste exports in each of the last 12 months.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Local Adaptation Advisory Panel

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the local adaptation advisory panel last met.

Zac Goldsmith: The Local Adaptation Advisory Panel (LAAP) acts as a forum for dialogue on climate change adaptation between local government, central government and arm’s length delivery bodies. The LAAP last met on 6 June.

Eggs: Import Duties

Neil Parish: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will review the Government's decision not to include eggs and egg products on the proposed tariff list.

George Eustice: The Government will continue to listen to stakeholder views on the temporary tariff policy announced on 13 March. The Government does this through a variety of channels including direct correspondence and meetings with consumer organisations, business and business representative organisations, and other interest groups. In the short-term, the Government would remain responsive to the needs of UK businesses and consumers as the UK leaves the EU. The temporary tariff will apply for up to 12 months. During this time, the Government would provide a mechanism to hear business and consumer feedback and would consider exceptional changes where clear evidence is provided by stakeholders against the criteria set out in the Taxation (Cross-border Trade) Act. We will provide further details on this mechanism in due course. The Government has also committed to conducting a public consultation to inform our permanent tariff policy, which will take effect after the temporary period. This will enable the views of a wide range of businesses to be heard. We will provide details of this public consultation in due course.

Food: North Herefordshire

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to support the food and drinks sector in North Herefordshire.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

LEADER Programme

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much and what proportion of the final LEADER allocations have been made to former coalfield constituencies.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Pets: Sales

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress her Department has made on delivering a public information campaign alongside the introduction of the ban on commercial third-party sales of puppies and kittens in April 2020.

Zac Goldsmith: The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2019, known as ‘Lucy’s Law’, bans the commercial third party sales of puppies and kittens and will come into force in April 2020. We intend to launch a campaign focused on helping the public understand how to responsibly source a puppy or kitten in early 2020, in the run up to the ban coming into force. The campaign is currently under development.

Agriculture: Scotland

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Prime Minister's oral contribution of 25 July 2019, Official Report, column 1497, what the timescale is for the allocation of the £160 million to the Scottish Government.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sharks: Animal Products

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many tons of shark fins were exported from the UK in each of the last five years.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fisheries: Protection

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 11 July 2017 to Question 2722, what progress she has made on assessing the required strength of the fisheries protection fleet after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Plastics: Packaging

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will take steps to ban the (a) production and (b) use of polystyrene plastic packaging in the UK.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

European Environment Agency

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the UK Government plans to seek membership of or co-operator country status with the European Environment Agency in the event that the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Members: Correspondence

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department intends to reply to the letter dated 3 July 2019 from the hon. Member for Ashford.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fishing Catches

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made (a) of the effectiveness of the discard ban in reducing discards and (b) of levels of compliance with that ban.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture: Subsidies

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to allocation of convergence uplift funding in 2013, whether she has any plans to increase financial support to farmers in Scotland.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Food: UK Trade with EU

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to extend the lamb purchase scheme announced by the Prime Minister on 30 July 2019 to (a) other meats, (b) poultry and (c) fish.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Veterinary Medicine

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the number of vets that will be required at ports and airports to issue export health certificates in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and how many vets are currently available.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she will take to ensure adequate supplies of animal feed, fertilisers and other crop treatments which cannot be stockpiled in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fisheries: Protection

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2018 to Question 197445, what increase there has been in the number of (a) personnel and (b) surveillance assets relating to fisheries protection since 3 December 2018; and what increases are planned ahead of the UK leaving the EU.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Data Protection

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2018 to Question 195110 on data protection, what the subject matter was of each of those documents.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agricultural Products: UK Trade with EU

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 19 December 2017 to Question 118358, what progress her Department has made on developing the UK’s system for the management of agri-food imports and exports with EU countries.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agricultural Products: Prices

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2017 to Question 118331, what progress has been made on the programme of analytical work into understanding how withdrawal from the EU will affect the UK; and if she will publish the interim findings of that work.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agricultural Products: UK Trade with EU

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 13 December 2017 to Question 118331, what progress has been made on getting the best possible deal that allows the UK to continue to have tariff-free and frictionless access for goods and services into the European market.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fisheries

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on developing a domestic fisheries policy for implementation after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Genetically Modified Organisms

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her policy is on the control of genetically modified organisms after the UK leaves the EU; and if she will make a statement.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Farm Inspection and Regulation Review

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the Government plans to publish its response to the Farm Inspection and Regulation Review, published on 13 December 2018.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 5 August 2019 to Question 280135 on Agriculture: Subsidies, if she will publish a list the 46 pilots which have been signed up to the Environmental Land Management Scheme; and whether those pilots are receiving financial compensation for taking part in that scheme.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Tritium

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons there has been a change to permitted levels of gaseous tritium discharges at former Magnox Nuclear Stations as a result of the operation of the waste encapsulation plants.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Environment Protection

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she will ensure that any forthcoming environmental legislation (a) sets out legally binding targets for environmental protection, the progress of which must be reported on annually by Government, (b) incorporates a non-regression principle to prevent backward steps in the adoption and implementation of environmental laws and (c) establishes an independent and adequately resourced environmental watchdog.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Packaging: Recycling

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of obligating all retailers to ensure that the packaging of products sold can be recycled locally before stocking those products.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture: Packaging

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans he has to tackle packaging waste in the agricultural sector.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her Department's policy on bovine TB to (a) end badger culling, (b) introduce risk-based cattle trading, (c) improve cattle testing and (d) roll-out badger vaccination programmes.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Ash Dieback Disease: Disease Control

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps the Government is taking to tackle  Ash dieback.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Hill Farming: Oldham

Debbie Abrahams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions his Department has had with Oldham Council on the potential effect on hill farmers in Oldham of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Clean Air Zones

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when the national online platform to enable the public to check vehicle compliance with Clean Air Zone emissions standards is scheduled to be fully functioning and available to the public; and for what reasons delivery of this platform by the Government has been delayed.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Rain Forests: Brazil

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions her Department is holding with the Government of Brazil to help stop deforestation in the Amazon.

Zac Goldsmith: The UK Government recognises the importance of protecting rainforests and has a long and proud history of supporting action to combat deforestation. The Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan, published last year, sets out work to protect the world’s forests, support sustainable agriculture and move towards zero-deforestation supply chains. Brazil is one of our priority countries for both climate change and biodiversity engagement, and the UK Embassy in Brazil leads our engagement with the Brazilian Government on the environment. We have been having positive discussions with the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply, who are keen to continue our partnership to promote sustainable agricultural practices to combat deforestation rates. The first phase of our Low-carbon Agriculture programme (£24.9 million), completed in May this year, reached over 18,500 beneficiaries in the Amazon and Atlantic forest biomes and delivered a seven-fold increase in livestock productivity, while avoiding the clearance of 175,000 hectares of land and reducing 52% of carbon emissions. An additional £30 million has been committed to expand project activities to a second phase, taking place in two other major biomes in Brazil – Cerrado and Caatinga. Brazil will continue to be an important partner in negotiations at the forthcoming UN climate summits in Chile this December (the 25th Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP 25) and again at the significant COP 26 in late 2020, where we hope to raise the level of global ambition on climate change five years on from the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

George Eustice: Defra’s expenditure on catering, hospitality and subsistence was (a) £511,000 in 2017 and (b) £634,000 in 2018.

Sharks: Animal Products

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to prevent the export of shark fins from the UK.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Water Treatment: Chemicals

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has in place to assist water companies with supplies of purification chemicals in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cereals: Exports

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has in place to support exporters of (a) wheat and (b) barley in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Crops

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to support the import of (a) fertilisers and (b) other crop treatments in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Animal Feed: Imports

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to support the import of animal feed in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Seed Potatoes: Exports

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans her Department has to support seed potato exporters in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Japanese Knotweed: North East

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the strategy to deal with invasive Japanese knotweed in (a) Wansbeck constituency, (b) Northumberland and (c) the North East.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Squirrels: Northumberland

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to (a) protect red squirrels in Northumberland and (b) tackle the damaging effect of the invasive grey squirrel species.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Crayfish: Pest Control

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps her Department has taken to tackle invasive crayfish species in UK rivers.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Chemicals: Registration

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government will require companies to repeat tests on animals if previously shared data on chemical substances registered under EU REACH is no longer accessible.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Amazonia: Fires

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to provide assistance to Brazil to help combat forest fires in the Amazon region.

Zac Goldsmith: The UK Government is working with Brazil to help ensure it protects the Amazon. We have invested nearly £120 million of our international climate finance in projects to limit deforestation, support local and indigenous people, prevent forest fires and implement the Forest Code in the Amazon, Atlantic Forest and Cerrado biomes. Following the Amazon fires the UK has also recently engaged with the Brazilian Government and has pledged a further £10 million to fight deforestation.

Angling

Scott Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will publish the results of the survey conducted in 2016 by his Department and Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science on the effect on the economy of recreational angling.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Food: Exports

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal on 31 October 2019 on food exports.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

River Thames: Contamination

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Thames water surrounding the Grenfell tower site, including the Paddington basin, has been monitored for levels of contaminants including cyanide since the fire in 2017.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Clean Air Zones

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, by which date her Department will require Leeds and Birmingham City Councils’ approved Clean Air Zone proposals to be introduced; and for what reason the implementation of those Clean Air Zones was delayed beyond the timetable set out in the Government’s 2015 and 2017 plans for tackling roadside nitrogen dioxide concentrations.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Motor Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how the national vehicle checking platform being prepared by the Joint Air Quality Unit will enable the public to obtain information about vehicles’ real world emissions; and whether there are plans to use that information (a) as the basis for stricter emission limits for Clean Air Zones in the future and (b) to set a path towards a zero emission road network.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Trees

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require each local authority to employ suitably qualified public-realm tree officers to ensure that (a) statistics are collated on the number and condition of trees and (b) existing trees are adequately maintained in each local authority area.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to require each local authority to employ suitably qualified public-realm tree officers to ensure that (a) statistics are collated on the number of trees and (b) existing trees are adequately maintained in each local authority area.

Zac Goldsmith: A public consultation on policies to improve the management of our trees and woodlands by Local Authorities was opened in December 2018. The consultation ended in February 2019. This document set out Government’s view on the importance of trees, especially in an urban environment, and the need for more policies to enhance the status and protection of urban trees.The Government committed in the 25 Year Environment Plan to introduce a duty on Local Authorities to consult the public on felling street trees. This will increase the transparency of decision-making and give the public a say in the management of these important natural assets. It will encourage local authorities to consider concerns raised and have regard to these when making decisions. This duty will be introduced in the forthcoming Environment Bill.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Brexit

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with Wirral Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with Leeds City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with Durham County Council on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

George Eustice: We have communicated on a range of topics with local authorities, including in a conference call on 13 August along with other Government departments. Each local Authority has established a Brexit lead officer to liaise with Government. Defra has identified areas where our exit preparations impact local authorities. For instance Environmental Health Officers are responsible for issuing Export Health Certificates on fish and we have discussed capacity and the requirements with them. We regularly contribute to a cross-government working group which coordinates engagement with local authorities. Information on leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement relevant to a particular local authority can then be accessed by the local authority via shared channels, such as:MHCLG’s Local government Brexit preparedness page on GOV.UK;MHCLG’s weekly e-bulletin to local authorities setting out all relevant updates for the week;Presenting information at MHCLG’s monthly delivery board to local authority representatives;The Food Standards Agency’s Smarter Comms platform accessed directly by regulatory officers in local authorities;Cascading information via MHCLG’s network of nine regional local authority Chief Executives;Using MHCLG’s newly established network of Brexit lead officers in each local authority;Direct email messages to regulatory leads in relevant local authorities;Engaging with and passing information through regulatory bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute or the Association of Port Health Authorities. Information on a range of Defra’s exit projects if we leave the EU without a withdrawal agreement has been made available to local authorities through these channels. This includes information on:Exporting fish and shellfish (Export Health Certificates);Importing fish and fisheries products (Catch Certificates);Import control systems for animals, products of animal origin and high risk food and feed;Food labelling changes;The protection of habitats and species;Waste;Guidance for businesses exporting goods to the EU. Local authorities have been invited to attend various meetings, including workshops, training events and roadshows on topics including:Changes to environmental regulations;Changes to food and farming;Changes to exports of animals and animal products;Changes to imports of animals and animal products;MHCLG’s regional roadshows on how local authorities will be affected by exiting the EU without a withdrawal agreement in Wakefield, Birmingham, London and Cambridge;Training on catch certificates in Wales, Inverness, Bristol and Newcastle;Changes to trading standards regulatory functions in Exeter;A series of teleconferences on changes to export health certificates;A webinar on changes affecting border or coastal local authorities;A workshop on regulatory services hosted by MHCLG with input from other departments including Defra.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of Statutory Instruments (a) laid and (b) proposed by his Department in relation to the UK leaving the EU will be debated before 10 September 2019.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Seed Potatoes

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions he has had with representatives of  businesses involved in the (a) production, (b) distribution, (c) marketing, (d) purchase and (e) use of seed potatoes on the implications of Statutory Instruments laid by his Department in preparation for the UK leaving the EU.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Trees: Urban Areas

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if the Government will make an assessment of the effect of urban trees on levels of human physical health and well being; and if she will make a statement.

Zac Goldsmith: The Social and Economic Research Group of Forest Research, part of the Forestry Commission, focuses on understanding the complex relationships between forestry, the environment and society. The importance of peri urban woods and urban woods for people’s wellbeing, both physical, mental and social is well known. The group is currently participating in a number of activities which will help increase our understanding of the health and wellbeing benefits of trees and greenspace. The Forestry Commission also supports the Urban Forest and Woodland Advisory Committee Network, which advises the Forestry Commission on forestry. The network has produced various publications on the benefits of a resilient urban forest, including for human health and quality of life.

Tree Planting

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of funding and other Government support for the tree nursery industry to ensure that it is able to plan and invest in the infrastructure required to increase the numbers of trees that the Government estimates will be required to be planted to help meet its climate change and biodiversity targets.

Zac Goldsmith: We do not provide direct support to tree nurseries. Our sustained support for new woodland creation helps ensure that there is ongoing demand for forest trees. The Forestry Commission has regular contact with representative bodies, sharing information on the expected level of tree planting and demand for trees to aid the planning of tree production. We are looking at how we can support the nursery industry in improving biosecurity and improve tree seed viability.

Trees

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans the Government has to (a) collate statistics on the number of trees in the UK and (b) ensure that existing trees are adequately maintained.

Zac Goldsmith: The National Forest Inventory Forest Research, part of the Forestry Commission, gathers data on the number of trees within woodland in Britain. In addition it monitors the canopy area of trees outside of woodland within. More details of the work carried out and information it publishes can be found here: https://www.forestresearch.gov.uk/tools-and-resources/national-forest-inventory/about-the-nfi/ All woodland is protected against unauthorised removal through the control of tree felling in the Forestry Act 1967, the Environmental Impact Assessment (Forestry) Regulations and the planning system. Activities authorised and supported by the Forestry Commission, including woodland management which has grant support available through Countryside Stewardship and Felling Licences applications, are expected to meet the UK Forestry Standard, the Government’s approach to sustainable forestry.

Veterinary Services: Complaints

Laura Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing an independent body to consider complaints made against veterinarians.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Clothing: Sustainable Development

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Government is taking to encourage sustainable fashion from production to purchase in order to meet (a) UN Sustainable Development Goal 12 on sustainable consumption and production and (b) the target for net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Food Supply

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment his Department has made of food security in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Members: Correspondence

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, when her Department plans to reply to the letter of 3 July 2019 from the hon. Member for Ashford.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture: Wales

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what contingency funding has been made available to the Welsh Government for the agricultural sector in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

George Eustice: Defra is working closely with colleagues across the devolved administrations to understand the potential impacts of a no-deal exit on the agricultural sector. The Treasury has now made available £6.3 billion to prepare for Brexit, including £4.2 billion funding this financial year alone. In the event of no deal, the Government would of course take economic measures to mitigate any short-run disruption, support the economy through the transition, and to boost the long-term potential of the UK economy.

Forests: Woking

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which areas of forestry and woodland in Woking constituency are classed by her Department as ancient woodland.

Zac Goldsmith: The Ancient Woodland Inventory can be found on Defra’s website at Magic Map Application. It shows all the woodland and forestry areas in England classed as ancient woodland. This service is managed by Natural England.

Hare Coursing: Fines

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will increase the penalties imposed by the courts in respect of offences of harecoursing; and if he will make a statement.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Snakes: Animal Welfare

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, for what reasons the minimum size of enclosures for snakes was changed from the requirement stated in the draft Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 guidance.

Dr David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will publish correspondence between her Department and businesses on the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 guidance on the size of snake enclosures; and what estimate she has made of the costs to businesses of increasing the size of snake enclosures.

Zac Goldsmith: The draft statutory guidance relating to pet sales that accompanies The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018 (the 2018 Regulations) contained two minimum accommodation size lengths for snakes in pet selling establishments. One was two thirds snake length and related to the minimum length of the enclosure in order to comply with the 2018 Regulations; and the other was 1x snake length which was the minimum length needed to attain the optional higher welfare standard. During consultation on the draft guidance a group of specialist exotic animal veterinary and keeping professionals advised that there was no welfare basis for the higher welfare standard. We therefore withdrew the higher minimum welfare standard for snake accommodation sizes from the final published guidance. However, the minimum welfare size needed to comply with the 2018 Regulations remains at two thirds snake length. We have not made an estimate of the costs to businesses if they were required to increase the size of their snake enclosures.

Northumbrian Water

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings her Department has had with Northumbrian Water to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sheep: Subsidies

Jenny Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the oral contribution of 3 September 2019 of the Minister of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Official Report, column 150, what estimate she has made of (a) the number of sheep that would be eligible to receive a headage payment and (b) the fiscal levels at which headage payments would be set; and when she plans to publish the details of headage payments for sheep.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on (a) wheat and (b) dairy farmers of the UK leaving the EU without a deal; and what assessment she has made of the UK's reliance on imported bioethanol.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture Bill

Gavin Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will ensure that the Agriculture Bill is carried over into the next session of Parliament.

George Eustice: If agreement is not reached on carry-over the Government will look to reintroduce Bills in the next session, and details on this will be set out in the Queen’s Speech. Introducing a new Agriculture Bill in the next session is an opportunity to reflect on the scrutiny of the House of Commons and improve the legislation that will underpin our new domestic agriculture policy.

Plastics: Pollution

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to encourage ports and transport companies involved in the movement of plastic pellets/nurdles to sign up to the British Plastics Federation’s industry-led scheme Operation Clean Sweep to reduce the loss of plastic pellets in transit.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Meat Products: Import Duties

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what discussions she has had with her Cabinet colleagues on the introduction of 40 per cent tariffs on meat products from the EU in the event that the EU introduces such tariffs on UK meat products when the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Meat Products: Northern Ireland

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to increase the volume of meat produce from Northern Ireland that is sold in the other constituent parts of the UK.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture: Subsidies

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether it is his policy to allocate payments to farmers that are comparable to Common Agricultural Policy payments after 2022.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture: Employment

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to safeguard agricultural jobs after the UK leaves the EU.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Seas and Oceans: Environment Protection

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to improve the UK’s Ocean Health Index score.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Plastics: Recycling

Douglas Chapman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress has been made on analysing the results of the consultation on introducing a Deposit Return Scheme for plastic drinks containers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fisheries

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what plans she has to ensure the enforcement of UK fishing waters in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the timetable is for the conclusion of the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Food: Prices

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential effect on food prices in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Primates: Pets

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she has plans to bring forward legislative proposal to ban the keeping of primates as pets.

Zac Goldsmith: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Fishing Gear: Waste Disposal

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate she has made of the amount of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear  from UK and foreign fishing fleets around the UK coastline.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture: Tees Valley

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what meetings she has held with farmers on Teesside on the effect on farming of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

George Eustice: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Agriculture: Expenditure

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row one of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead A – Food and Farming.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row one of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead A – Food and Farming.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row one of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead L, R – Food and Farming.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row two of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead B, H – Improve the environment.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row two of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a  breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead B, H – Improve the environment.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row two of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead M, S – Improve the environment.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row three of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead C, I – Flood protection.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row four of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead D, E, J – Animal, fish and plant health.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row five of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead F, K – Rural services.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row six of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead G – Departmental operating costs, and Departmental operating costs (EU Exit budget held centrally).

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row three of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead C, I – Flood protection.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row four of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead D, E, J – Animal, fish and plant health.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row five of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead F, K – Rural services.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row six of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead G – Departmental operating costs.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row three of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead T – Flood protection.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row four of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead N, O, U – Animal, fish and plant health.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row five of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead P, V – Rural services.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row six of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead Q – Departmental operating costs.

George Eustice: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 06 September 2019.The correct answer should have been:

In relation to the Resource DEL table on page 10 of the memorandum, the Capital DEL table on page 11 and Resource AME table on page 13:A breakdown is provided in the annex under ‘Part II: Subhead detail’. In relation to ring-fenced budgets on page 14 and 15 of the memorandum:The breakdown is to be published as a HM Treasury OSCAR data release later in the 2019 calendar year. Defra’s ring-fenced spend on OSCAR is identified by sub segment codes ending with I, J, M and N within the data release. These Official Statistics are released at the following location:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-oscar-publishing-from-the-database We send our Estimate and Memorandum (including the Annexes) to our Select Committee and this should all be published on the documents page under commons committee for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. Our Annex (attached) has not been published but the Scrutiny Unit is following up on this.



Departmental expenditure limits by programme
(Word Document, 43.5 KB)

George Eustice: In relation to the Resource DEL table on page 10 of the memorandum, the Capital DEL table on page 11 and Resource AME table on page 13:A breakdown is provided in the annex under ‘Part II: Subhead detail’. In relation to ring-fenced budgets on page 14 and 15 of the memorandum:The breakdown is to be published as a HM Treasury OSCAR data release later in the 2019 calendar year. Defra’s ring-fenced spend on OSCAR is identified by sub segment codes ending with I, J, M and N within the data release. These Official Statistics are released at the following location:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-oscar-publishing-from-the-database We send our Estimate and Memorandum (including the Annexes) to our Select Committee and this should all be published on the documents page under commons committee for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. Our Annex (attached) has not been published but the Scrutiny Unit is following up on this.



Departmental expenditure limits by programme
(Word Document, 43.5 KB)

Department for Exiting the European Union

Department for Exiting the European Union: Newspaper Press

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how much his Department has spent on purchasing (a) national newspapers and (b) newspaper online subscriptions since 2016; and how many copies of each national newspaper were purchased in that time period.

James Duddridge: Up to the end of the most recent financial year (2018-19), the Department has spent a total of £73,207.36 on newspapers and online subscriptions. Like all Government departments, it is necessary for us to be aware of public views and opinions, and subscriptions to national newspapers and specialist media outlets are one way we achieve this. Our current subscriptions are as follows: PublicationPhysical subscriptionsOnline subscriptionsDaily Express10Daily Mail10Daily Mirror10Daily Telegraph11Financial Times1100i10Mail on Sunday10Observer10Sunday Express10Sunday Mirror10Sunday Telegraph10Sunday Times10The Guardian10The Irish Times01The New York Times01The Sun10The Sunday Times10The Sun on Sunday10The Times11

Brexit: Negotiations

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many formal meetings (a) he or (b) Departmental officials have had with representatives of the EU since the Rt hon. Member for Uxbridge and Ruslip became Prime Minister.

James Duddridge: It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brexit: Cost Benefit Analysis

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, if he will publish his Department's cost-benefit analysis of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

James Duddridge: It has not proved possible to respond to the Hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Attorney General

Attorney General: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Attorney General, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Mr Geoffrey Cox: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Attorney General: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Attorney General, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Mr Geoffrey Cox: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Attorney General: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Attorney General, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Mr Geoffrey Cox: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sentencing

Mr Ranil Jayawardena: To ask the Attorney General, if he will extend the unduly lenient sentence scheme to cover (a) all serious crime cases and (b) cases tried at magistrates' courts.

Mr Geoffrey Cox: The ULS scheme remains an important avenue for victims, family members and the public to ensure justice is delivered in the most serious cases. Since its inception in 1989, the ULS scheme has been extended to include additional offences, including some sexual offences, and offences involving child cruelty and modern slavery. In 2017 the Government re-committed in our manifesto to look at further extension and, as a result, the scheme was extended in 2017, and again in 2018, to include a number of terror-related offences. We continue to look carefully at the ambit of the scheme.

Sexual Offences: Convictions

Robert Halfon: To ask the Attorney General, what steps the Government is taking to improve the conviction rate for rape and sexual offences.

Mr Geoffrey Cox: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sexual Offences: Prosecutions

Robert Halfon: To ask the Attorney General, what steps he is taking to increase the number of reported rape and sexual offences that are brought to trial.

Mr Geoffrey Cox: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sexual Offences: Prosecutions

Robert Halfon: To ask the Attorney General, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that more reports of rape, attempted rape and sexual offences end in prosecution.

Mr Geoffrey Cox: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Wales Office

Agriculture: Wales

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions his Department has had with the Welsh Government on the potential effect on the farming industry in Wales of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Alun Cairns: My officials and I have regular discussions with the Welsh Government on a range of issues including EU Exit.On 30 July in the first few days of the new Prime Minister being appointed, he and I met with the First Minister in Cardiff where amongst other topics we discussed support for farmers in Wales.

Agriculture: Wales

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what assessment his Department has made of the effect on the farming industry in Wales of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Alun Cairns: We remain focused on ensuring our smooth and orderly withdrawal from the EU with a deal as soon as possible. However, as a responsible Government we have been preparing to minimise any disruption in the event of a no-deal.I regularly meet with the Farmers’ Union of Wales, NFU Cymru and the CLA Cymru to discuss EU Exit and the impact on the agriculture sector.We have made it clear that we will support vulnerable sectors, such as our sheep farmers, through government intervention in the event of a ‘no-deal’, should this be necessary. We will be monitoring the sectors which may be exposed to short-term difficulties as a result of EU Exit closely to identify early signs of market disturbance allowing us to react swiftly.

Wales Office: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Kevin Foster: The Department spent the following on refreshments at ministerial events and meetings in 2017 and 2018: Financial YearSpend on Refreshments £2017-189,2362018-194,292

Wales Office: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what meetings his Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Alun Cairns: The Government has had extensive engagement with all local authorities, including Bristol City Council, as they continue to prepare for leaving the European Union on 31st October, with or without a deal. We continue to ensure that councils have the necessary information to prepare effectively, and continue to provide opportunities for specific local issues to be raised and addressed.

M4: Wales

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what discussions his Department is holding with the Welsh Government on the proposed M4 relief road.

Alun Cairns: I and my officials meet regularly with our counterparts in the Welsh Government to discuss roads which are a matter devolved to the Welsh Government. I am deeply disappointed by the First Minister’s decision, particularly as the UK Government had already enabled the Welsh Government to borrow the money needed to fund this vital road and we confirmed we would review increasing that amount even further had it been needed.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund: Wales

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether the Shared Prosperity Fund will be open to Welsh applications by 31 October 2019.

Alun Cairns: The Prime Minister announced in his speech on 27 July that the Government will bring forward plans on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. We will consult on the design of the fund and welcome input from across the UK.The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will invest in the foundations of productivity as set out in our modern Industrial Strategy to support people to benefit from economic prosperity, especially in those parts of the UK whose economies are furthest behind.In the meantime, stakeholders can continue to invest with confidence and certainty. The Government has guaranteed that if we leave the EU without a deal, we will continue to fund all European and Structural Investment Funds projects that would have been funded by the EU under the 2014-2020 programme period.

Ministry of Justice

Social Security Benefits: Appeals

Edward Miliband: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of people who appealed benefits decisions in Doncaster in the last 12 months were successful.

Edward Miliband: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of people who appealed benefits decisions were successful in their appeal in the last 12 months.

Edward Miliband: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of benefits appeals resulted in a decision being overturned in each Government region in the last 12 months.

Edward Argar: Information about the outcomes of appeals in the First-tier Tribunal (Social Security and Child Support) is published at: www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics Decisions on benefit, typically on a person’s entitlement to benefit, or its rate of payment, can be overturned on appeal for a variety of reasons. For instance, further evidence, including oral testimony, may be provided at the hearing. HM Courts & Tribunals Service cannot comment on decisions made by the independent tribunal judiciary. Latest figures (to March 2019) indicate that since Personal Independence Payment was introduced, 4.1 million decisions have been made, and of these, 10% have been appealed and 5% have been overturned at Tribunals. Between April 2014 and December 2018, 4.1 million Employment and Support Allowance (post Work Capability Assessment) decisions have been made. Of these, 8% have been appealed and 4% have been overturned.

Youth Offending Teams: Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take steps to ensure a child psychologist is in place in every youth offending team.

Wendy Morton: Local Youth Offending Teams (YOTs) are multi-agency partnerships (which include health services) and they determine which services are needed to address the needs of the children who offend in their area. As of June 2017, there were 127 full time equivalent posts for seconded mental health practitioners working in YOTs in England and Wales. This included 59.7 part time and 68 full time posts. Additionally, Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in England, are expected to work with NHS England and local partners across the NHS, public health, children and adult social care, youth justice and the education sectors, to jointly develop and take forward local plans to improve children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, including children going through the youth justice system. In Wales, Local Health Boards (LHBs) are responsible for planning and delivering medical services, and aim to integrate specialist, secondary, community and primary care and health improvements. Even where there is no child psychologist or mental health professional embedded within the youth offending team, areas should have provision for children to access appropriate mental health support.

Prison Officers: Sick Leave

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers were signed off work for mental health reasons in (a) publicly-managed and (b) privately-managed prisons in each of the last 10 years.

Lucy Frazer: HMPPS is committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of its staff in England and Wales, with all staff having access to a comprehensive occupational health service and employee assistance programme. The number of prison officers who were signed off work for mental health reasons in publicly-managed prison are shown in the Table 1 below. Table 1: HMPPS band 3-5 prison officers1 who were signed off sick due to Mental and Behavioural Disorders2 in public sector prisons, 2009/10 to 2018/19 Headcount Number of prison officers who had sick leave due to Mental and Behavioural Disorders212 months ending 31 Mar 20101,48412 months ending 31 Mar 20111,41512 months ending 31 Mar 20121,45612 months ending 31 Mar 20131,41412 months ending 31 Mar 20141,60212 months ending 31 Mar 20151,42212 months ending 31 Mar 20161,40512 months ending 31 Mar 20171,46512 months ending 31 Mar 20181,35712 months ending 31 Mar 20191,939 Includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl. specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial Managers.Absences are categorised according to International Classification of Diseases, which is an approach used across the civil service. While the figures show an increase in the number of individuals, the figures in 2010 represent 5.7% of the workforce and in 2019 it represents 8.5% of the workforce. We do not collect this information for privately managed prisons, as there is no contractual requirement for us to do so. All staffing matters in privately managed prisons, including the responsibility of ensuring the availability of sufficiently trained and experienced staff to maintain safe and decent prisons, lies with contractors.

Prison Officers: Sick Leave

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers were signed off work with post-traumatic stress disorder in (a) publicly-managed and (b) privately-managed prisons in each of the last 10 years.

Lucy Frazer: Information is not available on the number of prison officers diagnosed with PTSD in relation to their work in the prison service as there is no classification for PTSD available on the centralised recording of sick absence. We do not collect this information for privately managed prisons, as there is no contractual requirement for us to do so. All staffing matters in privately managed prisons, including the responsibility of ensuring the availability of sufficiently trained and experienced staff to maintain safe and decent prisons, lies with contractors. HMPPS is committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of its staff in England and Wales, with all staff having access to a comprehensive occupational health service and employee assistance programme.

Prison Officers: Early Retirement

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prison officers took early retirement due to ill health in (a) publicly-managed and (b) privately-managed prisons in each of the last 10 years.

Lucy Frazer: HMPPS is committed to ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of its staff in England and Wales, with all staff having access to a comprehensive occupational health service and employee assistance programme. The number of prison officers in public sectors prisons who took early retirement due to ill health in each of the last 10 years is shown in the table below. Table 1: HMPPS band 3-5 prison officers1 who retired early due to ill health in public sector prisons, 2009/10 to 2018/19Headcount Number of prison officers who retired early due to ill health12 months ending 31 Mar 20108512 months ending 31 Mar 20118212 months ending 31 Mar 201211312 months ending 31 Mar 201312912 months ending 31 Mar 201412412 months ending 31 Mar 201515412 months ending 31 Mar 201615012 months ending 31 Mar 201714212 months ending 31 Mar 201810912 months ending 31 Mar 20191121. Includes Band 3-4 / Prison Officer (incl. specialists), Band 4 / Supervising Officer and Band 5 / Custodial ManagersAlthough there appears to be a clear upward trend, the figures have remained fairly static, representing only 0.3% of the workforce in 2010 and 0.5% of the workforce in 2019. We do not collect this information for privately managed prisons, as there is no contractual requirement for us to do so. All staffing matters in privately managed prisons, including the responsibility of ensuring the availability of sufficiently trained and experienced staff to maintain safe and decent prisons, lies with contractors.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average waiting time is for a decision in the appeal stage of a personal independence payment application for those transferring from disability living allowance.

Edward Argar: Waiting times for appeals against decisions made about Personal Independence Payment (PIP) are published at:www.gov.uk/government/collections/tribunals-statistics The average time for a decision to be made in the appeal stage of a PIP application for those transferring from disability living allowance in the period April 2018 to March 2019 (the latest period for which data are available) is 35 weeks 1 Data include cases cleared with and without a Tribunal hearing. An SSCS appeal may be captured more than once as a clearance should the original decision be overturned, set aside or if an Upper Tribunal re-hearing is granted. The data are based on the time from receipt in HM Courts and Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to the last decision within the input period. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and are the best data that are available. The data are a subset of official statistics extracted from the case management system on a different date. Waiting times are calculated from receipt of an appeal to its final disposal. An appeal is not necessarily disposed of at its first hearing. The final disposal decision on the appeal may be reached after an earlier hearing had been adjourned (which may be directed by the judge for a variety of reasons, such as to seek further evidence), or after an earlier hearing date had been postponed (again, for a variety of reasons, often at the request of the appellant). An appeal may also have been decided at an earlier date by the First-tier Tribunal, only for the case to have gone on to the Upper Tribunal, to be returned once again to the First-tier, for its final disposal.

Crimes of Violence: Sentencing

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reviewing the sentence guidelines for conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.

Edward Argar: Currently, there is no sentencing guideline for conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm (GBH). This offence is covered by common law and separate to the offences related to causing or inflicting GBH. It is for the Sentencing Council for England and Wales, which is independent of government, to develop sentencing guidelines and monitor their use. The Sentencing Council are in the process of reviewing the definitive guideline on assault offences, and anticipate issuing a consultation on a revised guideline in early 2020. The Assault guideline and evaluation are available here:https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/publications/?type=publications&s=&cat=&topic=assault&year=

Prisoners: Veterans

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 July 2019 to Question 276194, how many former armed service personnel who have declared their membership of those services are serving a sentence in each prison in the UK.

Lucy Frazer: Since January 2015, Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service has actively been recording service in the Armed Forces as part of the screening process for newly received prisoners into custody. Recently published Experimental Statistics (October 2018) have indicated that as of 30 June 2018, there were 1,782 prisoners who had declared themselves as ‘ex-service personnel’ serving a sentence in prisons across England and Wales representing 3% of the total prison population for whom we have data on this matter. The attached table shows a breakdown per establishment. The information requested for Northern Ireland and Scotland is not covered by this department. The department is due to release the next estimate in October 2019. The Ministry of Justice remains committed to encouraging individuals to declare service in the Armed Forces, as early as possible or at any point whist serving their sentence. This enables them to access the support available whether in custody or the community.



Data Table
(Excel SpreadSheet, 20.83 KB)

Ministry of Justice: ICT

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the Common Platform programme on access to justice.

Edward Argar: HMCTS is committed to ensuring that Common Platform maintains and improves the level of access to justice across the criminal justice system. A key part of Reform design is engaging with users to understand their needs and develop a system that offers greater engagement opportunities for example by providing an additional route for users to engage through a digital process. The Ministry of Justice is to undertake an overarching evaluation of the Reform programme to understand the effect of reform on access to justice. An interim report is expected by Summer 2021.

Magistrates Courts: ICT

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for how long the Digital Markup system was in place for legal advisers and court associates in magistrates courts; what the cost was of implementing and running that system; and when the Common Platform system will be fully operational.

Edward Argar: The Digital Mark Up (DMU) system was piloted from 2016, and national roll-out was completed by March 2018. The total cost incurred to the end of 2018/19 was £13.5m. In addition, there are on-going support costs which in 2018/19 were £600k. We aim to have the common platform system fully operational during 2020/21 but, as with any program, timelines are continually reviewed.

Administration of Justice: Artificial Intelligence

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Law Society’s recommendation that the Government create (a) a statutory code of practice for the use of algorithms in the justice system and (b) a national register of algorithms in the justice system.

Edward Argar: We have noted the Law Society of England and Wales’ report with interest. We recognise the importance of ethics when designing AI systems for use in the criminal justice system. The Government is committed to the better use and management of data and algorithmic tools.

Translation Services

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 15 July 2019 to Question 275723, whether his Department collects information on user satisfaction of translation services.

Edward Argar: The Ministry is committed to ensuring the justice system is supported by a range of quality language services that meet the needs of all those that require them. As part of the new generation of language service contracts which began on 31 October 2016, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has appointed 'The Language Shop' (part of the London Borough of Newham) to provide independent quality assurance of the services provided under the other contracts, including those awarded to the thebigword Ltd. As part of that assurance, The Language Shop also investigate complaints and specific concerns throughout the contract period and conduct regular customer satisfaction surveys of MOJ users. The results of the surveys are discussed at quarterly quality board meetings and are fed back to the suppliers to improve the service provided. These services help to ensure the ongoing delivery of high-quality language services to the department and her agencies. Details of the statistics of complaints received are published quarterly on the gov.uk website and are available to the public.

Offenders: Females

Richard Graham: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the female offender strategy.

Lucy Frazer: The Female Offender Strategy set out our vision to see fewer women coming into the criminal justice system and in custody, and better conditions for those women who need to be in custody. The strategy launched an ambitious programme of work which will take will take several years to deliver. We are committed to monitoring progress over time and taking action to deliver the outcomes we set out to achieve. We have taken stock of progress in the first year and published an update on our progress in a Written Ministerial Statement on 27 June 2019: https://www.parliament.uk/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-06-27/HCWS1662 . A number of key achievements are set out below:• In December 2018, we published a new Women’s Policy Framework to replace Prison Order 4800. It sets out the duties, rules and general guidance for prison and probation staff who work with womenA new modular training package, POWER, has been devised and rolled out to develop the skills and knowledge of staff working with women in a custodial and community setting.New female pathways have been introduced by NHS England within their Liaison and Diversion services.On 18 June 2019, we published Lord Farmer’s Review on the importance of family ties for women. We commissioned Lord Farmer to undertake a follow-up review into the importance of family ties for female offenders.Across government, we have invested £5m in women’s centres and other community services for women in 2018/19 and 2019/20. This includes funding to support the almost 60% of female offenders who have experienced domestic abuse. This funding will help to sustain and enhance existing services, and will create new services where there is currently a gap. We continue to monitor the impact of the strategy and be scrutinised on progress in its delivery through the Advisory Board on Female Offenders, a minister-led board of external stakeholders.

Courts

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to activate the working group established by the then Lord Chief Justice and then Lord Chancellor in January 2016 to implement the problem-solving court model in England and Wales.

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the working group established by the then Lord Chief Justice and then Lord Chancellor in January 2016 on problem solving courts has been stood down and its membership retired.

Wendy Morton: The Problem-Solving Courts Working Group was asked to advise on the feasibility of pilot models and its planned work did not include an implementation stage. The group concluded the workstreams set out in its published terms of reference and has not been reconvened. There remain barriers to testing or applying the problem-solving courts’ approach in a meaningful way, including upfront resource implications and the need for primary legislation to implement some of the models being proposed, as well as gaps in evidence. However, we are testing and applying “problem-solving approaches”, for example in the testbed sites for on the community sentence treatment requirement protocol and through our support for models applied in Family Drug and Alcohol Courts.

Legal Aid Scheme: Terrorism

Lesley Laird: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what legal aid is available to the families of victims of terrorist attacks.

Wendy Morton: In England and Wales, legal aid can be provided if the matter or issue in question is within scope of the legal aid scheme, as defined in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). Legal aid is available for advice and assistance for all inquests, subject to a means and merits test. Legal aid funding for legal representation for a family, during an inquest hearing, is not in scope of LASPO. However, families are supported by coroners who can ask questions on their behalf to help them get the answers they need and we are developing a range of measures to improve this service further. The Government recognises that for certain inquests, bereaved people may require representation; legal aid may therefore be available, through the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, if certain criteria are met: (a) if a failure to provide such representation would breach, or likely risk a breach of, the government’s obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights, usually Article 2; or(b) where the Director of Legal Aid Casework (DLAC) makes a determination that there is a ‘wider public interest’ in legal representation being granted. All individual case funding decisions are taken by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). It is important that these decisions are, and are seen to be, free from political and Government influence.

Ministry of Justice: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Edward Argar: The Department does not hold central records for expenditure on refreshments. However, the following restrictions apply to all staff with effect from August 2010: No lunches, tea or coffees can be ordered for any internal meeting (i.e. a meeting between MoJ staff). Water is freely available in our offices. For all external meetings (i.e. a meeting between MoJ staff and external stakeholders), lunch, tea and coffee purchases require Director-level sign-off and are only allowed in exceptional circumstances. To provide information on departmental expenditure on refreshments would involve disproportionate cost.

Ministry of Justice: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Edward Argar: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Prison Accommodation

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce the prison population.

Lucy Frazer: Sentencing is a matter for our independent courts, which take into account the circumstances of the case, including any aggravating and mitigating factors. We are clear that sentencing must match the severity of a crime. Prison numbers can fluctuate, which is why we have a robust set of plans in place to ensure we will always have enough places for offenders sent to custody by the courts. The Prime Minister recently announced his ambition to transform the prison estate with an additional investment of £2.5 billion which will deliver 10,000 additional prison places.

Probation: Wales

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff were employed by probation services in Wales in 2018.

Lucy Frazer: As of 31 December 2018, there were 695 staff employed by the National Probation Service in the Wales probation region. Prison and Probation workforce statistics are published quarterly, more information can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-offender-management-service-workforce-statistics.

Probation: Finance

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much funding his Department allocated to probation services in each (a) nation and (b) region of the UK in 2018.

Lucy Frazer: The total amount spent by the Ministry of Justice on probation services in England and Wales for each region is set out in the summary table below: 2018/19 Probation Expenditure by Region (£m)  Region CRCNPSOtherTotal (£m)England  London6474 139 Midlands6377 140 North East6085 145 North West5275 127 South East and Eastern5969 129 South West and South Central5063 113Probation England Total348443 791Probation Wales Total2230 52Central Delivered Operational Support Functions*  5252Probation Total37047352896* includes bail accommodation, NPS centrally delivered operational support, public protection group and probation contract managementResponsibility for delivery of probation services in Northern Ireland and Scotland sits with the devolved administrations and is not funded through the Ministry of Justice.

Ministry of Justice: Computer Software

Jo Platt: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many computers use the (a) Windows XP and (b) Windows 7 operating system in his Department.

Edward Argar: To release any information may assist in determining the effectiveness of a future cyber attack and could compromise measures to protect government systems. If those systems are attacked it could lead to the loss of confidentiality, integrity and availability of government information and/or personal data. Providing information which could lead to a crime being committed and/or the disruption to the delivery of justice services is not in the public interest.

Probation: Wales

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff were employed by probation services in Wales in 2008.

Lucy Frazer: We currently do not hold workforce data for Probation Services prior to 2013. Workforce statistics for 2013 and onwards can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-offender-management-service-workforce-statistics.

Probation: Wales

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve the provision of probation services in rural locations in Wales.

Lucy Frazer: The Government set out its response to the consultation ‘Strengthening probation, building confidence’ on 16th May 2019. This consultation response confirmed that we intend to bring the supervision of medium and low risk offenders, currently supervised by the Community Rehabilitation Company, into the National Probation Service across England and Wales. Recognising the unique circumstances of Wales, we are seeking to achieve this by the end of 2019 so that advice to court, risk and need assessments, sentence planning and managing enforcement and recall will all sit within a single organisation. A number of market engagement events have been held in Wales to help inform the design of the future services and we are keen to work with a range of providers including both the private and voluntary sector. HMPPS in Wales work closely with the Welsh Government, the PCCs and other key stakeholders in Wales to ensure we capture how our services can best meet our shared objectives and align with existing arrangements. We are taking into account the landscape in Wales, including consideration of Welsh legislation, Welsh language and other priorities identified in our design work to date. In doing this, we will seek to reduce duplication in existing services and encourage partners to design, develop, commission and deliver in an integrated way. NPS in Wales covers the whole of Wales, which has a mix of urban and rural areas creating different challenges and opportunities. There are five geographical local delivery units that are configured in a way to ensure that there is local oversight of issues such as rurality and an ability to respond to local challenges that may arise.

Probation

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the average caseload was for probation service responsible officers in (a) Wales and (b) England in 2018.

Lucy Frazer: Figures on the average caseload of probation officers are not collected centrally. A probation worker’s tasks are not based solely on the number of cases they are managing, but the level of supervision each case requires and an assessment of risk involved. Public protection is our priority and probation services are crucial to help offenders on community orders or leaving prison to turn their lives around in the community, while keeping the public safe. The Ministry of Justice publishes statistics showing total caseload in both England and Wales. This information is broken down by Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) and the National Probation Service division (NPS). These figures are published quarterly as part of the Offender Management Statistics Bulletin, England and Wales: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly

Sexual Offences

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what progress has been made on the  Government's review of the handling of rape and sexual violence cases across the criminal justice system; what resources have been allocated to that review; and what steps her Department has taken to improve access to counselling and therapeutic support for people who  have reported rape to the police in the last 12 months.

Edward Argar: a) The decline in the number of rape and serious sexual offences reaching court and being charged and prosecuted has, rightly, been the subject of public scrutiny and concern. It is essential that we grasp this issue, which is why the Criminal Justice Board (CJB) has committed to a cross-government end-to-end review of the Criminal Justice System’s (CJS) response to serious sexual violence and rape where the victim is over 18. We have established a Sub-Group of the CJB to oversee this review. The review is now well underway. The Cabinet Office have concluded initial analysis to identify key areas that merit further investigation. We are now gathering evidence and data from key groups and agencies across the CJS to enable us to better understand how handling and outcomes for rape cases could be improved. We continue to engage regularly with specialist stakeholders and victim organisations to ensure that the victim experience is central to our work. We have committed to publish a cross-system action plan at the conclusion of the review in Spring 2020. In efforts to accelerate the review, we will develop a set of interim recommendations before the end of the year. b) The review is being conducted by a cross-Government team comprised of officials from the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Attorney General’s Office and Crown Prosecution Service, with support from the National Policing Lead for Adult Sexual Offences. c) Rape is a horrendous crime. It is essential that victims of rape have access to support when and where they need it most. In March this year we increased funding available to these essential services by 10% - up to £8m per year and totalling £24m over the next three years. This funding ensures that, for the first time, that there are government-funded services in all 42 of the country’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) areas. This is in addition to the £68m we allocate to PCCs to locally deliver support services for victims of crime, including for victims of sexual violence.

Legal Aid Scheme: Terrorism

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of automatically providing legal aid funding for (a) coroner's inquests and (b) other legal proceedings for British citizens who are victims of terrorist attacks.

Wendy Morton: Legal aid can be provided if the matter or issue in question is within scope of the legal aid scheme, as defined in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). Legal aid is available for advice and assistance for all inquests, subject to a means and merits test. Legal aid funding for legal representation for a family, during an inquest hearing, is not in scope of LASPO. However, families are supported by coroners who can ask questions on their behalf to help them get the answers they need and we are developing a range of measures to improve this service further. The Government recognises that for certain inquests, bereaved people may require representation; legal aid may therefore be available, through the Exceptional Case Funding scheme, if certain criteria are met: (a) if a failure to provide such representation would breach, or likely risk a breach of, the government’s obligations under the European Convention of Human Rights; or(b) where the Director of Legal Aid Casework (DLAC) makes a determination that there is a ‘wider public interest’ in legal representation being granted. All individual case funding decisions are taken by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA). It is important that these decisions are, and are seen to be, free from political and Government influence.

Marriage: Humanism

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to grant legal recognition for humanist marriages in England and Wales.

Wendy Morton: The Law Commission review that the Government announced this June is a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. As part of that review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent. The Government will consider the Law Commission’s recommendations.

Children: Custody

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent steps he is taking to ensure the gender of a parent is not considered as a factor in custody cases.

Wendy Morton: The legislative framework which governs family law proceedings about a child’s upbringing is gender neutral and focused on the welfare of the child involved.The court is legally required to presume that the involvement of a parent in the life of the child will further that child’s welfare, unless there is evidence to the contrary. The nature of any parental involvement will be determined by the court based on all the available evidence.

Children: Custody

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he is taking steps to ensure that grandparents are ensured access to their grandchildren in custody cases.

Wendy Morton: Grandparents who are experiencing difficulties in spending time with their grandchildren following parental separation can seek the permission of the family court to apply for a child arrangements order. Experience suggests that grandparents would not usually experience any difficulty where their application is motivated by genuine concern for the welfare of the child. The law does not provide any absolute right for a grandparent, or indeed a parent, to be involved in a child’s life because it is the child’s welfare which is paramount in all court decisions about who a child lives with or spends time with. The court can, however, direct the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) to prepare a welfare report into the child’s circumstances, including the beneficial involvement in their life of significant adults such as grandparents.

Ministry of Justice: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Edward Argar: In the 2018 calendar year, the ministers’ private offices spend on air and rail travel was:Air (standard/economy class) – £12,935.60Air (business/first class) – £4005.60Rail (standard class) – £16,730.70Rail (first class) – None Total - £33,671.90

Marriage: Humanism

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group's report, Any lawful impediment?, published in May 2018.

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to bring forward legislative proposals to grant legal recognition for humanist marriages in England and Wales; and what assessment he has made of the potential barriers to granting such legal recognition.

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies on the granting of legal recognition for humanist marriages in England and Wales of the recent ruling by the Belfast Court of Appeal which stated that there is a human right to humanist marriages.

Wendy Morton: The Law Commission review that the Government announced this June is a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. As part of that review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent. The Government will consider the Law Commission’s recommendations. Assessment of the potential merits of provision for non-religious belief marriages can be found in the consultation paper and response published by a previous Government in 2014 and available at justice.gov.uk. The Government has subsequently taken the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group’s report into consideration. The law in England and Wales presents different issues for Government consideration from the law of many other jurisdictions, including Northern Ireland, in being based on where a marriage can take place rather than on who can conduct it.

Rape: Prosecutions

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent assessment he has made of change in the level of the rate of prosecution for rape.

Edward Argar: We recognise that the decline in the number of rape and serious sexual offences being charged and prosecuted in England and Wales is a cause for concern and we are determined to do everything we can to ensure these appalling crimes are tackled effectively. As a result of concerning outcomes for complainants, the National Criminal Justice Board has commissioned a Review into the criminal justice response to adult rape and serious sexual offences.

HM Courts and Tribunals Service: Reform

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 4 of the document entitled HM Courts & Tribunals Service Citizen User Experience Research, published in June 2018, which states that some groups were excluded: immigration tribunals, criminal defendants, jurors, high court cases and restraining order or Domestic Violence Protection Order cases, whether he will take steps to survey the user experience of those groups to (a) understand their experience as they engage with the court system and (b) to help ensure equal access to justice.

Edward Argar: The Ministry of Justice is to undertake an overarching evaluation of the Reform programme to understand the effect of reform on access to justice. This will include surveys of court users across criminal, civil, family, and tribunal jurisdictions. An interim report is expected in Summer 2021. Information on the overarching evaluation was published in the Ministry of Justice response to the Public Accounts Committee's fourth recommendation in its report Transforming courts and tribunals, in February 2019: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/moj-response-to-public-accounts-committee-transforming-courts-and-tribunals In July 2019, the Ministry published further information on the progress of the evaluation, including details of the advisory panel that has been established for the evaluation: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/response-to-public-accounts-committee-transforming-courts-and-tribunals

Prosecutions: West Midlands

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to (a) tackle the backlog of serious court cases in the West Midlands, (b) ensure the capacity of Crown Prosecution Service lawyers to prosecute and (c) increase the court time available for those cases.

Edward Argar: The number of outstanding cases in the crown court in the West Midlands Local Criminal Justice Area, has reduced over the last 5 years by almost 50%. The published data for the West Midlands shows the number of outstanding crown court cases from end of March 2015 to end of March 2019PeriodNumber of outstanding casesMarch 20152504March 20162153March 20171777March 20181527March 20191267   The amount of court time available is determined by the allocation of sitting days to each Region and in turn to each court. There are robust case progression systems in place to ensure that cases are ready for trial and that time estimates for the length of trial are accurate. Listing decisions are ultimately the function of the judiciary but HMCTS staff work closely to support the judiciary particularly with the management of custody cases. HMCTS is unable to answer point b in relation to CPS resources, as this would be the responsibility of the Attorney General’s Office.

Fixed Penalties

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department plans to review Fixed Penalty Notices for Disorder and the length of time those notices remain on police records.

Edward Argar: Penalty Notices for Disorder are one type of Out of Court Disposal, which allow police to deal quickly and proportionately with low-level offending without recourse to the courts. The responsibility lies with Police forces regarding the retention of data. These records must be regularly reviewed to ensure that they remain necessary for a policing purpose, and are adequate and up to date. Records should be disposed of when there is no longer a policing purpose for retaining them. We are working in partnership with the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) whose Charging and Out of Court Disposals strategy (2017-2021) promotes a simplified ‘two-tier’ framework in which all out of court disposals have a condition attached. The strategy asks forces to move to the simplified two-tier framework when it is operationally and financially viable. We have no separate plans to review Penalty Notices for Disorder specifically.

Fixed Penalties: Young People

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made an assessment of the effect on young people given Fixed Penalty Notices for disorder in their later life.

Wendy Morton: We are committed to enabling children who have offended to move on from their previous behaviour to live rich and fulfilled lives. We have not made a specific assessment of the effect on young people given Penalty Notices for Disorder (PND). As of April 2013, PNDs were made unavailable for under 18s in order to focus on disposals that allow for rehabilitative activity to prevent further offending.

Marriage: Humanism

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has plans to extend legal recognition to humanist wedding ceremonies in England and Wales.

Wendy Morton: The Law Commission review that the Government announced this June is a fundamental review of the law on how and where people can legally marry in England and Wales. As part of that review, the Government invited the Law Commission to make recommendations about how marriage by humanist and other non-religious belief organisations could be incorporated into a revised or new scheme for all marriages that is simple, fair and consistent. The Government will consider the Law Commission’s recommendations.

Resomation

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of allowing resomation, also known as water cremation, to be used as an alternative to flame cremation in the UK.

Wendy Morton: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Prisons: Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what use his Department has made of mindfulness-based therapy techniques in (a) improving well-being and (b) reducing recidivism in the prison population.

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will place in the Library a copy of the results of any pilot projects undertaken by his Department on the use of mindfulness-based therapies in prisons and the justice system.

Lucy Frazer: Mindfulness-based therapy techniques are used in prisons in England and Wales. A summary of evidence relating to the impact of mindfulness on people in prison and on probation has been published and can be found at the following link; https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mindfulness-in-prison-and-probation In addition to this, HMPPS Wales commissioned 2 studies in 2016 evaluating the impact of a mindfulness intervention at HMP Parc, Wales and within the National Probation Service Wales. Both staff and offenders took part in these studies. The research was led by Swansea University and the full reports, alongside a report from findings in the community, will be published later this year.Our work on mindfulness is just part of our efforts to reduce recidivism and improve the prison estate. Over the past 3 years, we have invested £100m to provide additional Prison Officers to improve frontline safety, security and rehabilitation.

Prisons: Mental Health Services

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what use his Department has made of mindfulness-based techniques for (a) reducing stress and (b) improving well-being among prison staff.

Lucy Frazer: Mindfulness workshops forms part of a range of mental and physical health wellbeing workshops on offer to prison staff, with over 200 wellbeing days provided to prison establishments over the last two years. The workshops are also available on request through the HMPPS bespoke wellbeing initiative, Wellness Together programme which provides a series of workshops to selected prison establishments over a 12-week period. Some prisons also provide local independently organised staff mindfulness training sessions for instance, at lunch times. More widely, confidential counselling, wellbeing/lifestyle advice, wellbeing workshops, training and coaching to prison staff are also available to prison staff.

Remand in Custody: Long Term Unemployed People

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of placements for people on short-term remand that have been in long-term unemployment.

Lucy Frazer: Prisoners on remand are permitted to work while in prison. However, we do not collect data centrally relating to the number of prisoners remanded in custody who are in employment while in prison, or who were unemployed prior to being imprisoned. Sentenced prisoners can be released on temporary licence to attend places of work, provided they meet certain criteria. Prisons must be places of rehabilitation, which will ultimately reduce reoffending. Our Education and Employment strategy sets out how we will transform our approach to ensure prisoners develop the skills they need to secure employment on release. We are engaging with employers to take on ex-prisoners via the New Futures Network (NFN) and have consulted on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release on Temporary Licence.

Prisoners' Release: Community Development

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has further its co-operation with (a) churches and (b) prison ministries to help prisoners re assimilate into communities after release from prison.

Lucy Frazer: In England and Wales; Prison chaplaincies are proactive in building local community links, recognising the value of a released prisoner having the opportunity to join a new and positive community. Working with faith-based organisations, such as Caring for Ex-Offenders and Prison Advice and Care Trust; Prison chaplaincy teams assist in introducing volunteer mentors to prisoners, whilst in custody; with a view to building relationships with a prisoner that will continue on release. The Welcome Directory, a nationwide directory of faith communities who have identified themselves as places that will provide welcome support for people leaving prison, continues to expand in collaboration with HMPPS Chaplaincy. The directory is available on-line and can be used by prison chaplains, resettlement agencies, and charities, as well as those who have left prison. With over 90 registered faith communities across England and Wales, this gives our Chaplaincy teams a considerable network to liaise with, to ensure that prisoners can continue to receive pastoral support on release from custody.

Prisons

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department’s press release of 9 November 2015, Prison building revolution announced by Chancellor and Justice Secretary relating to the 2015 Spending Review, how much of the Government's planned £1.3 billion capital investment to transform the prison estate has been spent since the 2015 Spending Review; which (a) new prisons have been successfully opened and (b) prisons have closed since the 2015 Spending Review; and how many (i) new prison places and (ii) additional prison places have been created since the 2015 Spending Review.

Lucy Frazer: Since the 2015 Spending Review we have: opened HMP&YOI Berwyn, a new rehabilitative male prison in North Wales, in February 2017. As we build up to full occupancy this will provide 2106 places. closed a total of four prisons (Holloway, Kennet, Glen Parva, and Blantyre House) and one immigration removal centre (IRC) (Dover) since October 2015. On 8 March this year we announced the sale of the former HMP&YOI Holloway site to social housing group Peabody in partnership with London Square Ltd created new houseblocks in HMP Peterborough, HMP Parc, HMP The Mount, HMP Thameside and HMP Stocken which has delivered an additional 1,465 prison places. Of the £1.3 billion planned capital investment, the total spent to date (i.e. to the end of July 2019) has been around £0.25 billion. This has been spent on the early stages of long-term projects including the building of the new prison at HMP Wellingborough and the start of work at Glen Parva. Significant further spend is expected in future years to complete these projects.

Prisons: Publications

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to increase the number of books available in prisons.

Lucy Frazer: Education is key to helping prisoners break a cycle of reoffending, therefore it is essential that prisoners have access to books and libraries. The prison library aims to provide an accessible service which has a focus on supporting learning, improving literacy and to promote reading as a source of pleasure and wider cultural engagement.Every prison is required to have a library and every prisoner must be allowed to have and exchange library books under the Prison Rules.The new Education contracts launched in April gave prisons more freedom to shape the way prisoners had access to libraries. Prisons could continue to receive library provision from its Local Authority or opt into new provision through the Prison Education Framework (PEF).Family and friends of prisoners are able to hand or send books in directly. They may also order books via the approved book retailers scheme (as set out in Prison Service Instruction 30/2013). Prisoners are also able to purchase books with monies earned in prison or where sent in by family and friends.

Prisons: Publications

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the Howard League for Penal Reform's review of access to books in prisons; and if he will make a statement.

Lucy Frazer: Education is key to helping prisoners break a cycle of reoffending, therefore it is essential that prisoners have access to books and libraries. The prison library aims to provide an accessible service which has a focus on supporting learning, improving literacy and to promote reading as a source of pleasure and wider cultural engagement.There may be several operational reasons why books posted to a prisoner would be returned to sender, including volumetric control on property or if the item fails security screening (for example if it’s impregnated with psychoactive substances). Governors may also restrict an individual’s access to some specific reading material on a case-by-case basis in accordance with HMPPS’s Public Protection Manual, in light of the prisoner’s offence or offending behaviour work.In April we launched new education contracts to enable prisons to shape the way prisoners had access to libraries. Prisons could continue to receive library provision from its Local Authority or opt into new provision through the Prison Education Framework (PEF). Family and friends of prisoners are able to send books in directly. They may also order books via the approved book retailers scheme (as set out in Prison Service Instruction 30/2013). Prisoners are also able to purchase books with monies earned in prison or where sent in by family and friends.Prisons must provide the opportunity for prisoners to rehabilitate, which will ultimately reduce reoffending – access to books forms an extremely important part of this.

Magistrates' Courts: Tees Valley

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what meetings his Department has had with Teesside Magistrates Court on preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Edward Argar: The department is working closely with HMCTS, meeting regularly to consider the impacts on courts and tribunals of leaving the EU without a deal. HMCTS is putting in place contingencies, including ensuring that resources and training are in the right place and working with courts on an individual level where appropriate.

Offender Assessment System

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prisoners in each prison have an up to date Offender Assessment System assessment.

Lucy Frazer: Prison and probation officers use the Offender Assessment System (OASys) to help them assess the needs and risks of offenders – specifically, the risk of reoffending and risk of harm which a given offender presents. Based on the resulting assessment, prison and probation officers may then formulate plans designed to reduce those risks; the plans require the offender’s co-operation and engagement.We cannot answer the question as asked, as the data needed are collected on two systems. Prison population data are collected as a snapshot on a particular date, with which comprehensive data on assessments on prisoners using OASys completed over time cannot be matched.

Remand in Custody: Employment

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisoners remanded in custody were in employment in each prison in the financial year 2018-19.

Lucy Frazer: According to Rule 31 of the Prison Rules 1999, while convicted prisoners can be required to do useful work for not more than 10 hours a day, the same does not apply to prisoners held on remand. Rule 31(5) merely states “An unconvicted prisoner shall be permitted, if he wishes, to work as if he were a convicted prisoner”. We do not collect data centrally relating to the number of prisoners remanded in custody who are in employment in prisons and this information could therefore only be provided at disproportionate cost. Prisons must be places of rehabilitation, which will ultimately reduce reoffending. Our Education and Employment strategy sets out how we will transform our approach to ensure prisoners develop the skills they need to secure employment on release. We are engaging with employers to take on ex-prisoners via the New Futures Network (NFN) and have consulted on proposals to increase the opportunities available to prisoners to gain experience in real workplaces through Release on Temporary Licence.

Ministry of Justice: Contracts

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 29 July 2019 to Question 280394 on Ministry of Justice: Contracts, whether his Department maintains a record of financial remedies paid by each private company his Department holds contracts with.

Edward Argar: The department does not hold a central record of financial remedies; however, each instance is recorded with/within individual contract records.The MoJ holds providers rigorously to account for their performance and takes action wherever they are falling short. Our contract management teams closely monitor and robustly manage providers to make sure they fulfil their contractual commitments to maintain service delivery, reduce reoffending, protect the public and provide value for money to the taxpayer.

Judiciary: Occupational Pensions

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many complaints on the administration of the Judicial Pensions Scheme by Xafinity Punter Southall have been made under the internal disputes resolution procedure in each year for which information is available.

Edward Argar: The number of complaints made is set out in the table below:Internal Dispute Resolution Complaints ReceivedStage 1 Stage 22017/2018502018/20191482019/2020 (YTD)54 A single individual may be counted more than once in the figures provided if they had both a Stage 1 and Stage 2 complaint.

Judiciary: Occupational Pensions

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the total cost is to his Department of the administration of the Judicial Pensions Scheme by Xafinity Punter Southall in each year for which information is available.

Edward Argar: The annual cost to the department of the administration of the Judicial Pensions Scheme by Xafinity Punter Southall for the last five financial years is set out in the table below.The reason for the lower level of spend in 2014-15 was that the contract started in January 2015.Financial YearCost to MOJ2014/15£208,964.402015/16£633,059.582016/17£906,178.172017/18£ 989,518.512018/19£ 701,072.02

Young Offender Institutions: Children

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many safeguarding referrals to a local authority were made by each custodial institution holding children in each year since 2010.

Wendy Morton: The information requested could not be provided without incurring disproportionate cost. In order to obtain it, we would need to collate reports of individual referrals made by all establishments holding young people under 18, over a period of ten years. The Youth Custody Service takes the safety and well-being of young people in custody very seriously. It has conducted an internal review of safeguarding across the youth secure estate, and a new ‘Head of Safeguarding’ post has also been created to lead on taking forward this important area of work.

Young Offender Institutions: Children

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what guidance his Department provides to custodial institutions holding children on when to make a safeguarding referral.

Wendy Morton: Guidance to youth secure establishments relating to safeguarding of children is set out in ‘Working Together to Safeguarding Children’ (July 2018), which can be viewed via the following link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/779401/Working_Together_to_Safeguard-Children.pdf, as well as PSI 08/2012 (‘care and management of young people’) for public sector Young Offender Institutions. This can be viewed via https://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/offenders/psipso/psi-2012/psi-08-2012-care-management-young-people.doc. As per the Ministry of Justice’s response to the recent report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, the PSI is to be updated. In advance of this, the Youth Custody Service has published Building Bridges, a policy framework that replaces some aspects of PSI 08/2012 relating to behavioural management of children (including promoting and maintaining good behaviour, managing challenging behaviour and offending behaviour interventions). This can be viewed at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/building-bridges-a-positive-behaviour-framework-for-the-children-and-young-people-secure-estate We are also working with the Department for Education to produce a new ‘Keeping Children Safe in Custody’ document, which we anticipated will be published in 2020. The YCS’s Information Development Project is also working towards launching a revised and harmonised recording process for safeguarding referrals, across all sectors and establishments. The launch of the process will allow for uniform central reporting of safeguarding referrals, facilitating improved central oversight of these key liaisons. The YCS takes the safety and well-being of young people in custody very seriously. It has conducted an internal review of safeguarding across the youth secure estate, and a new ‘Head of Safeguarding’ post has also been created to lead on taking forward this important area of work.

Trials: Waiting Lists

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what were the (a) mean and (b) median waiting times in weeks for trials where the defendants entered a not guilty plea in each Crown Court in England and Wales in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2018.

Edward Argar: The information requested about Crown Court waiting times for trials where the defendants entered a not guilty plea in 2010 and 2018 can be found in the attached excel document. Last year saw a 12% reduction in Crown Court trial cases and the allocation of sitting days reflects this. Waiting times for trials in the Crown Court for 2018 have been the lowest since 2014, despite the challenge of increasingly complex cases. Performance, demand and waiting times in the courts are constantly reviewed to balance sitting days with waiting times, disposals and receipts. Resources are adjusted when appropriate. Demand has been falling in recent years and sitting days have been reduced accordingly. The abolition of committal hearings in 2013 transferred the file preparation period from the magistrates’ court to the Crown Court and so comparisons between pre-2013 data and post-2013 data do not compare like with like. We will continue to review demand and performance in the Crown Courts and will ensure they have the resources they require.



Annex A
(Excel SpreadSheet, 23.75 KB)




Annex B
(Word Document, 38.65 KB)

Trials: Homicide

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what were the (a) mean and (b) median waiting times in weeks for trials where the defendants entered a not guilty plea for a murder charge in each Crown Court in England and Wales in (i) 2010 and (ii) 2018.

Edward Argar: The information requested about Crown Court waiting times for trials where the defendants entered a not guilty plea for a murder charge in 2010 and 2018 can be found in the attached excel document. Last year saw a 12% reduction in Crown Court trial cases and the allocation of sitting days reflects this. Waiting times for trials in the Crown Court for 2018 have been the lowest since 2014, despite the challenge of increasingly complex cases. Performance, demand and waiting times in the courts are constantly reviewed to balance sitting days with waiting times, disposals and receipts. Resources are adjusted when appropriate. Demand has been falling in recent years and sitting days have been reduced accordingly. The abolition of committal hearings in 2013 transferred the file preparation period from the magistrates’ court to the Crown Court and so comparisons between pre-2013 data and post-2013 data do not compare like with like. We will continue to review demand and performance in the Crown Courts and will ensure they have the resources they require.



Annex A
(Excel SpreadSheet, 22.34 KB)




Annex B
(Word Document, 38.99 KB)

Prison Service: Industrial Health and Safety

Richard Burgon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 31 July 2019 to Question 277788 on Prison Service: Industrial Health and Safety, what steps his Department is taking to raise awareness of the Bodily Fluid Exposure and Sharps Injury telephone helpline among all prison staff.

Lucy Frazer: The Sharps Helpline was launched in November 2017. Posters, guidance documents and key fobs with the Sharps Line telephone are publicised and issued nationally through England and Wales. Routes of communication include HMPPS intranet and Senior Leaders Bulletin and also in writing and in meetings/committees with Employee Relations, Human Resources, Health and Safety, Trade Unions, staff network groups and prison Care Teams.

Sentencing: Females

David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many women received an immediate custodial sentence  for (a) less than six months and (b) six months or more in each of the four Police Force areas in Wales in (i) 2014, (ii) 2015, (iii) 2016, (iv) 2017 and (v) 2018 in each offence category.

Lucy Frazer: The Ministry of Justice has published information on the number of adult females sentenced to immediate custody broken down by custodial sentence length, by Police Force Area and by offence group in the Court Outcomes by Police Force area data tool available here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/804509/court-outcomes-by-PFA-2018.xlsx Select ‘All’ in the Court Type filter.Select ’02: Female’ in the Sex filter and ’03: Adults’ in the Age Group filter.Select ’15: Immediate Custody’ in the Outcome filter. In the pivot table, filter Police Force Area to Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, North Wales and South Wales. In the pivot table field list, drag ‘Offence Group’ from Filters to Rows, beneath ‘Police Force Area’. Custodial sentence lengths can be selected using the Custodial Sentence Length filter. Police Force Areas provide breakdowns of where offences were dealt with (not where they were committed).

Magistrates' Courts: Closures

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of magistrates courts closures on (a) waiting times for cases to be heard and (b) the frequency with which cases are adjourned.

Edward Argar: HM Courts & Tribunals Service monitors waiting times and the proportion of cases which are completed at first hearing. There is no indication that either have been adversely affected by the closure of magistrates’ courts since 2016. The closure of a court is subject to public consultation and a decision to close is not taken lightly. In every case, the Lord Chancellor will only agree to close a court when satisfied that effective access to justice can be maintained. We are reinvesting every penny raised from selling these underused buildings into modernising the justice system to provide swifter and easier access to justice for all

Legal Aid Scheme

Faisal Rashid: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent progress his Department has made in reviewing the legal aid means test.

Wendy Morton: The Government announced the review of the legal aid means test on 7 February 2019, as part of the Legal Support Action Plan.The review will consider the full range of means-testing criteria including the applicable thresholds for legal aid entitlement and their interaction with wider criteria.The review is in progress, bringing together data, evidence and expertise, and liaising with experts from across the field to explore potential improvements to the system.This comprehensive review of the legal aid eligibility regime is expected to conclude in summer 2020 after which we will publish a full consultation paper setting out our future policy on the proposals in this area. We will seek to implement any final recommendations as soon as practicable following public consultation.

Crown Courts: Bradford

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 2 August 2019 to Question 277304 on Bradford Crown Court, for what reason the number of days from first listing to trial date increased; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce that number.

Edward Argar: The number of cases listed for trial at Bradford Crown Court has remained relatively static over the last five years. However, the number of more serious cases received by Bradford Crown Court in the same period have increased. These types of cases, by the very nature of their seriousness, generally take more court time to deal with. In the last five years Bradford has also seen a substantial increase in the number of appeals that it receives, as Bradford Magistrates’ Court deals with all the road traffic work from across West Yorkshire and therefore any appeals that arise from those cases go through Bradford Crown Court. In order to reduce the delays, work is being done in liaison with partner agencies to review trial cases at an early stage and floating trials are being monitored to ensure all action is being taken to start the trial on the day. Workload and sitting days continue to be closely monitored.

Police: Cameras

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will ensure that courts view any body worn footage available in cases (a) of assaulting an emergency worker and (b) involving a police officer before the offender is sentenced; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Argar: The Government is committed to ensuring that emergency workers on the front line have the full protection of the law. Evidence obtained from body worn video footage is admissible in court and, where available, can be used to support the prosecution’s case during trial. If a defendant enters a guilty plea, the prosecution can invite the court to view footage taken from a body worn camera, alongside any victim impact statements, before sentencing. The court would have full discretion in determining whether to accept or reject the request. The Assaults on Emergency Workers (Offences) Act 2018 doubled the maximum penalty for those who assault emergency workers from six to 12 months in prison. Under the Act a court must also consider, for a range of offences, the fact that the offence was committed against an emergency worker as an aggravating factor meriting a more severe sentence.

Remand in Custody

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in (a) how many and (b) what proportion of cases involving common assault was a defendant remanded in custody prior to their trial in each year since 2013.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in (a) how many and (b) what proportion of cases involving common assault was a defendant found guilty or pleaded guilty after being remanded in custody prior to their trial in each year since 2013.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in (a) how many and (b) what proportion of cases involving common assault was a defendant sentenced to a term of imprisonment after being remanded in custody prior to their trial in each year since 2013.

Edward Argar: Information on the number of defendants dealt with for common assault and their remand status at different points of court proceedings can be found in the “Remands: Magistrates’ Court data tool” and the “Remands: Crown Court data tool” at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/criminal-justice-system-statistics-quarterly-december-2018To obtain the requested data, carry out the following steps:In both tools filter ‘Offence’ for: “105 Common assault and battery”In both tools filter ‘Remand status’ as required – for remand status prior to trial in the magistrates’ court, use the “Remand status with Police” variableIn both tools filter ‘Convicted / not convicted’ as requiredIn both tolls filter ‘Sentenced / not sentenced’ as requiredIn the Crown Court tool filter ‘Plea’ as required (plea is only available at Crown Court)In both tools filter ‘Outcome’ for “Immediate custody” as requiredFor calculations for defendants dealt with entirely at the magistrates’ court, filter ‘Outcome’ to exclude the following: “Failure to appear”, “Committed for trial” and “Committed for sentence”For calculations for defendants dealt with at the Crown Court, filter ‘Outcome’ to exclude: “Failure to appear”.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, in what proportion of adjudications additional days were added to a prisoner's sentence; how many days were added and for what reasons, in each year since 2010.

Lucy Frazer: The prisoner discipline system upholds justice in prisons and ensures incidents of prisoner rule-breaking have consequences. In cases which the prison governor deems the rule-breaking to be sufficiently serious an Independent Adjudicator, appointed by the Chief Magistrate, can attend a prison to award additional days to the prisoner’s custodial time left to serve. Information on the number of occasions on which additional days were awarded to prisoners by offence is publicly available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/offender-management-statistics-quarterly For ease, both the number of awards and the number of days that were added to a prisoner’s custodial time, in each year since 2011 is shown in the table below. The information requested for 2010 is not provided due to data quality issues: The Number of awards where additional days were given and total number of days of additional days, 2011 – 2018, England and Wales Can be found in the attached Table.



Table
(Image, 90.49 KB)

Prisons: Crimes of Violence

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of assaults on prison staff resulted in a criminal conviction in each of the last five years.

Lucy Frazer: It is not possible to identify the proportion of assaults on prison staff that resulted in a criminal conviction in each of the last five years. Detailed information may be held on court record but to be able to identify these cases we would have to access individual court records which would be of disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Education

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps the Government is taking to improve education in prisons.

Lucy Frazer: Since the publication of the Education and Employment Strategy last year, we have overhauled the prison education system, giving governors control over their education budgets and have implemented a new approach to education provisionThese fundamentally change how prison education is delivered. Governors now have the tools, and budget, to commission the education provision that best meets the needs of their prisoners and the local labour market.To complement the Prison Education Framework which provides core education, we have developed a Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS). This enables governors to commission bespoke education often from smaller suppliers, local and third sector organisations. This will enhance governors’ ability to find the training most responsive to employers’ requirements and most appropriate for prisoners’ learning needs.

Dangerous Driving: Sentencing

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to (a) create an offence of causing serious injury by careless driving and (b) increase the maximum penalties for causing death by dangerous driving.

Edward Argar: I refer the honourable member to my response of 3 September to Question 282465.

Fines: Surcharges

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 17 May 2019 to Question 252551, Answer of 10 July 2019 to Question 273770 and Answer of 29 July 2019 to Question 280263, on fines: surcharges, for what reason there was a £1 million difference between the raised and allocated amounts in the 2016-17 financial year; and where that money has been allocated.

Edward Argar: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Sexual Offences: Victim Support Schemes

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to decrease victim attrition rates in criminal cases of sexual assault and rape.

Edward Argar: The Government is committed to tackling the unacceptably high victim attrition rates in sexual violence cases. We know that access to counselling and therapeutic support when and where victims most need it increases victim engagement. That is why in March this year we increased funding available to these essential services by 10% - up to £8m per year and totalling £24m over the next three years. This funding ensures that, for the first time, that there are government-funded services in all 42 of the country’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) areas and by extending it from one to three years, it provides greater security and sustainability for the sector to deliver their essential services. This is in addition to the £68m we allocate to PCC’s to locally deliver support services for victims of crime, including for victims of sexual violence, as they are best placed to respond to local needs. Moreover, in the cross-government Victims Strategy, which we published on 10 September 2018, we made a commitment to improve support for all victims of crime, including by increasing the number of Registered Intermediaries, communication experts helping vulnerable victims and witnesses give their best evidence at police interview and at court. The Government also recognises the importance of understanding the decline in the number of rape and serious sexual offences reaching court and being charged. It is vital we grasp this issue, which is the Criminal Justice Board (CJB) has committed to a cross-government end-to-end review of response to serious sexual violence and adult rape. We have established a Sub-Group of the CJB to oversee this review and a stakeholder group made up of victim organisations to ensure the inclusion of the victim experience.

Sexual Offences: Victim Support Schemes

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to support survivors of (a) rape, (b) attempted rape and (c) sexual assault through the process of trial.

Edward Argar: Serious sexual violence and rape are horrendous crimes. It is essential that victims and survivors of these crimes have access to support when and where they need it most.In accordance with the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime (Victims’ Code), a person is entitled to support if they have suffered harm, including physical, mental or emotional harm or economic loss, which was directly caused by a criminal offence. They are entitled to access victim support services at any time, whether they have reported a crime or not.In March this year the Government increased funding available to these essential services by 10% - up to £8m per year and totalling £24m over the next three years to specialist sexual violence and abuse support services across England and Wales. This enables these services to provide advice, support and counselling to victims of these appalling crimes to help them cope with and, as far as possible, recover from the effects of crime. Part of this funding will go towards Independent Sexual Violence Adviser’s to provide impartial advocacy for victims of sexual violence and abuse who have reported to the police or are considering reporting to the police. This funding ensures that, for the first time, that there are government-funded services in all 42 of the country’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) areas. This is in addition to the £68m we allocate to PCCs to locally deliver support services for victims of crime, including for victims of sexual violence.Moreover, in the cross-government Victim’s Strategy, which we published on 10 September 2018, we made a commitment to improve support for victims of crime, including by increasing the number of registered Intermediaries, communication experts helping vulnerable victims and witnesses give their best evidence at police interview and at court.The Government also recognises the importance of understanding the decline in the number of rape and serious sexual offences reaching court and being charged. It is vital that we grasp this issue, which is the Criminal Justice Board (CJB) has committed to a cross-government end-to-end review of the Criminal Justice System’s response to serious sexual violence and adult rape. We have established a sub-group of the CJB to oversee this review and continue to engage regularly with specialist stakeholders and victim organisations to ensure that the victim experience is central to our work.

Cabinet Office

Electronic Government: Personal Records

Vicky Ford: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect on fair competition of the five Gov.UK Verify providers being able to re-use Gov.Verify profiles for a period before other market participants are given access to that service.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the Government plans to publish the draft Representation of the People (Annual Canvass) (Amendment) Regulations 2019.

Kevin Foster: While the current annual canvass is effective overall in meeting its objectives, it is widelyrecognised to be outdated, cumbersome and expensive.Following consultation with stakeholders, the Government intends to use its powers under section 7 of the ElectoralRegistration and Administration Act 2013 to amend the legislation governing the annualcanvass to make it more streamlined and less prescriptive for Electoral RegistrationOfficers. The draft Representation of the People (Annual Canvass) (Amendment)Regulations 2019 will be laid before Parliament as soon as parliamentary time allows.

Cabinet Office: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Oliver Dowden: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brexit

Ruth Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to publish civil service advice on the effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Government Departments: Telephone Systems

Frank Field: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether there is cross-departmental guidance on the use of number withheld phone numbers when contacting members of the public by phone.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt. hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Conflict, Stability and Security Fund

Dan Carden: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answers of 25 July 2019 to Question 280367 and 17 July 2019 to Question 276193 and with reference to the findings of the independent assessment commissioned by the Joint Funds Unit which identified areas where the process could be improved, what specific recommendations were made for improving the Overseas Security and Justice Assistance process.

Oliver Dowden: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Death: Greater London

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the proportion of deaths that are premature in (a) London and (b) Hounslow Borough.

Kevin Foster: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cabinet Office: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Oliver Dowden: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cabinet Office: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Oliver Dowden: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Prime Minister: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Office spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Oliver Dowden: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cabinet Office: Credit Unions

Gareth Thomas: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2019 to Question 279360 on Cabinet Office: Credit Unions, what further steps he has taken to offer a payroll deduction service to enable employees to join a credit union; and if he will make a statement.

Kevin Foster: I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the answer given to PQ 279360 on 23 July.The Cabinet Office is currently investigating various financial wellbeing options and willdetermine our approach next year, once this work has been completed.

Proof of Identity: Internet

Jo Platt: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Government press release New plans to make it safer for people to confirm their identity online, published 19 July 2019, under the proposals to allow organisations to digitally check identity using British passport data whether information will be held by the Government on the purpose of the verification sought.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brexit

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the (a) most up-to-date version of the 1 August 2019 Operation Yellowhammer document and (b) the dates on which each version of that document was circulated; what the distribution list is for that document; and for what reasons the assumptions in each version changed.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brexit

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish all the steps taken by the Government to mitigate the effects of the UK leaving the EU without a deal since 24 July 2019.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brexit

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what effects of the UK leaving the EU without a deal cannot be mitigated; and what assessment he has made of the potential impact on the UK of those unmitigated effects.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Business: Costs

Rebecca Long Bailey: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many businesses have annual employment costs of (a) £3-20 million, (b) £20-40 million and (c) more than £40 million; and what the total employment costs are for businesses in each of those categories.

Kevin Foster: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cabinet Office: Brexit

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what meetings his Department has had with Bristol City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Drugs: Poisoning

Craig Mackinlay: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Deaths related to drug poisoning by selected substance data published by the Office for National Statistics on 15 August 2019, how many of the 4,359 deaths in 2018 related to drug poisoning were related to the use of (a) drugs prescribed to the deceased by a medical professional, (b) drugs purchased over the counter and (c) drugs which have been diverted (prescribed for someone else), by each selected substance.

Kevin Foster: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. Ihave asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Response
(PDF Document, 54.59 KB)

Prime Minister: Gifts and Endowments

Luke Pollard: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the estimated value is of all gifts given to the Prime Minister since July 2019.

Kevin Foster: Details of gifts given to Ministers are published quarterly in arrears on GOV.UKInformation on gifts given to Ministers from July to September 2019 is expected to bepublished in December 2019.

Cabinet Office: Brexit

Alex Sobel: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what meetings his Department has had with Leeds City Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cabinet Office: Brexit

Ms Angela Eagle: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what meetings his Department has had with Wirral Council to discuss preparations for the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Michael Gove: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the compatibility of software used by local authorities for electoral registration and that used by (a) the Electoral Commission and (b) his own Department.

Kevin Foster: The Government has no plans to assess the compatibility of software used by localauthorities for electoral registration and that used by the Cabinet Office and ElectoralCommission.When Individual Electoral Registration (IER) was introduced in 2014, the Cabinet Officeworked with the Electoral Management Systems (EMS) providers to ensure they werecompatible with the Government’s IER Digital Service. Compatibility with the IER DigitalService means that Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) can manage registration datathrough their EMS by downloading applications submitted through the Register to Votewebsite, uploading applications to be verified with the Department of Work and Pensions,and notifying other EROs about electors who have moved from their area.We continue to work with the suppliers to ensure any changes to the IER Digital Serviceretain compatibility with the EMSs. In addition, the Cabinet Office is also working closelywith EMS providers to ensure that all systems used by EROs are fully prepared to managethe changes required as part of the reforms to the annual canvass.The Government does not hold any information on the compatibility of software used bythe Electoral Commission with that used by local authorities.

Prime Minister: Disclosure of Information

Sir Nicholas Soames: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many leak enquiries are extant; when he expects them to be concluded; and if he will make a statement.

Oliver Dowden: The government takes any unauthorised disclosure of official information extremely seriously, and each Department is responsible for investigating potential losses or leaks of its information. It has been the policy of successive administrations not to comment on leaks or leak investigations.

Office for Tackling Injustices

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress has been made on establishing the Office for Tackling Injustices; and if he will make a statement.

Oliver Dowden: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Race Disparity Audit

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if it is is policy to (a) maintain a racial disparity unit within his Department and (b) continue collating and publishing data through the race disparity audit.

Oliver Dowden: This Government has confirmed that the Race Disparity Unit will continue its work. This includes the collation and publication of data through the Race Disparity Audit. Last month (August) the Race Disparity Audit published 15 updates to existing data across a range of topics including education, housing, fuel poverty and health. It also published a new measure on Honours, which showed that the percentage of recipients from ethnic minorities has increased to 10% over the last 5 years.

Honours: Gender and Ethnic Groups

Stephanie Peacock: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for Cabinet Office, what data his Department collects on the (a) gender and (b) ethnicity of honours recipients.

Kevin Foster: The Government is committed to ensuring the honours system is fully representative of UK society. Data on gender, ethnicity, disability and sexual orientation is collected by asking recipients to complete a diversity survey. A summary of this data is published alongside each New Year and Queen’s Birthday Honours List.The Honours Secretariat in the Cabinet Office is working with the Race Disparity Unit to improve data collection and transparency, and has published all data relating to the breakdown of ethnicities on the Ethnicity Facts and Figures on Gov.uk:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/honours-recipients-by-ethnicity

Dominic Cummings

Catherine West: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, under what authority Special Adviser Dominic Cummings has the ability to (a) hire and (b) dismiss staff from Government Departments.

Kevin Foster: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Government Departments: Living Wage

Catherine West: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to his oral answer of 25 July 2019, Official Report, column 1489, by what date will all (a) Departments and (b) Departments' contractors be required to pay Whitehall-based staff at least the London Living Wage.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Ministerial Policy Advisers: Powers

Catherine West: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to launch an inquiry into the scope of powers held by senior special advisers.

Oliver Dowden: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Zero Hours Contracts

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent estimate he has made of the number of workers on zero-hours contracts.

Kevin Foster: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA response
(PDF Document, 101.19 KB)

Databases

Jo Platt: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2019 to Question 276285, if she will outline the responsibilities of the chief data officer role; and when she plans to appoint an individual to that position.

Simon Hart: The Government intends to appoint a Chief Data Officer in 2020 as set out in the Government Transformation Strategy. The role of the Chief Data Officer will be outlined in due course.

Electronic Government

Jo Platt: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent communications he has had from each Gov.UK Verify provider on their continued participation in the scheme.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brexit

Jo Stevens: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his Department's three highest policy priorities are in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Cabinet Office: Brexit

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has provided advice to other Departments to prepare for the UK leaving the EU on 17 October 2019.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Food Supply: Ilford North

Wes Streeting: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect on food supplies in Ilford North constituency of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Drugs: Ilford North

Wes Streeting: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect on supplies of medicines in Ilford North constituency of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Business: Ilford North

Wes Streeting: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the economic effect on businesses in Ilford North constituency of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Business: Ilford North

Wes Streeting: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect on businesses in the chemicals sector in Ilford North constituency of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Holidays: EU Countries

Wes Streeting: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) UK and (b) Ilford North residents planning holidays in other EU member states after 31 October 2019 of the UK leaving the EU without an agreement on that date.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Long Term Unemployed People

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what reduction in long-term unemployment there has been in Woking constituency since May 2010.

Kevin Foster: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. Ihave asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Response
(PDF Document, 50.15 KB)

Job Creation

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of jobs created in (a) Woking, (b) Surrey and (c) the UK since 2010.

Kevin Foster: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. Ihave asked the Authority to reply.



UKSA Response
(PDF Document, 59.68 KB)

Suicide and Self-harm: Children

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the rates of (a) suicide and (b) self-harm among people aged 11 to 18 years old in (i) England and (ii) Surrey in each of the last three years.

Kevin Foster: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.



UKSA Response
(PDF Document, 69.34 KB)

Government Communication Service: Brexit

Mary Creagh: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government Communications Service are taking to ensure that (a) transparency and (b) the values of the Civil Service code are maintained through effective governance of communications on the UK's departure from the EU.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Government Communication Service: Brexit

Mary Creagh: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government Communication Service are taking to fact-check the content of Government communications on the UK's departure from the EU.

Kevin Foster: The Government has a robust process in place to fact-check all guidance it publishes,including information relevant for preparing for Brexit. Content that is created bydepartments is fact-checked by relevant experts within that department.All content relating to Brexit is underpinned by policy decisions taken at a departmentallevel and drafted with the support of content editors. A dedicated team will ensureGOV.UK Brexit content continues to meet users’ needs on an ongoing basis.

Government Departments: Living Wage

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to ensure that the London Living Wage is paid by all Government Departments and their contractors.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Government Communication Service: Brexit

Mary Creagh: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Government Communications Service are taking to ensure (a) value for money from and (b) rigorous evaluation of Government communications of the UK's departure from the EU.

Kevin Foster: All the paid for elements of the campaign are competitively procured through a tender to ensure we get value for money. The procurement of the required services is done using frameworks set-up by Crown Commercial Service, the biggest public procurementorganisation in the UK.In addition to internal governance and assurance procedures, the Cabinet Office have contracted external auditors to conduct a comprehensive analysis of media buying spend. Ebiquity will provide real time and post campaign assessments of cost effectiveness toensure a high quality and value for money service is provided by agencies.Campaign activity will be continuously monitored and refined. We will measure changes in public awareness of the campaign and the specific calls to action that direct both citizens and businesses to relevant information. In addition, we will monitor visits made to the dedicated Brexit information pages over the coming weeks. We will also measure public understanding of changes in key issues that will affect both citizens and businesses so that the campaign continues to be responsive to the public's needs.This will be done through a mixture of online data analysis and in-depth surveys. The campaign will also utilise ongoing polling, metrics and management information from departments in order to ensure that we are reaching the right audiences and that our messages are prompting the required action from individuals and organisations.

Prime Minister: Living Wage

Matthew Pennycook: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether it is his policy to ensure that all staff within the Prime Minister's Office and its contractors are paid the London Living Wage.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government spent on encouraging people to register to vote in each year since 2010.

Kevin Foster: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of levels of expenditure on electoral registration measures on registration.

Kevin Foster: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of (a) geography, (b) demography and (c) socioeconomic factors on trends in levels of electoral registration in different parliamentary constituencies.

Kevin Foster: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent steps his Department has taken to encourage third sector organisations to help increase levels of electoral registration.

Kevin Foster: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of people have received fixed penalty notices for failing to register on the electoral register in each local authority area since July 2014.

Kevin Foster: The Cabinet Office does not hold this information. The issuing of fixed penalty notices is at the discretion of individual Electoral Registration Officers, who hold this data. It should be noted that penalties exist for failing to respond to requests for information from EROs (such as not completing a Household Enquiry Form or an Invitation to Register) rather than for failing to register to vote.

List of Ministerial Responsibilities

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when his Department plans to publish an updated List of Ministerial Responsibilities.

Kevin Foster: Details of Ministerial responsibilities can be found on GOV.UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers).The List of Ministerial Responsibilities was last updated in December 2018. An update to the document is expected in the autumn.

Musicians: EEA Nationals

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with (a) the European Commission, (b) representatives of the music industry and (c) Cabinet colleagues on the status of visiting musicians from EEA countries in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Musicians: British Nationals Abroad

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with (a) the European Commission, (b) representatives of the music industry and (c) Cabinet colleagues on work permits for British musicians living and working in the EU on 1 November 2019 after the UK leaves the EU.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Entertainers: British Nationals Abroad

Tommy Sheppard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish guidance for musicians and other performers on (a) travelling and (b) working in EU countries in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Musicians: British Nationals Abroad

Tommy Sheppard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of the findings by the Incorporated Society of Musicians that musicians will incur additional costs of up to £1,000 per year when travelling to the EU in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a deal.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brexit

Karl Turner: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the names of the representatives of the (a) shipping, (b) port and (c) aviation industries that participated in the work undertaken by his Department on preparing Operation Yellowhammer.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Brexit

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the results of the Government's stress testing of the effect of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Tees Valley: Brexit

Dr Paul Williams: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the effect on (a) Stockton-on-Tees and (b) Teesside of the UK leaving the EU without a withdrawal agreement.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Electoral Register: Scotland

Marion Fellows: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many people registered to vote each day between 27 August 2019 to 4 September 2019 in (a) the Motherwell and Wishaw constituency, (b) North Lanarkshire and (c) Scotland.

Kevin Foster: The Cabinet Office does not hold data on the number of citizens on the register, as local authorities manage their registers.Whilst we cannot provide data for individual constituencies, we are able to provide the number of applications that were submitted through the Individual Electoral Registration Digital Service (IER DS) for North Lanarkshire and Scotland, each day between 27 August2019 to 4 September 2019, as shown below.These figures are for the total number of applications that have been made to the IER DS. Not all individuals who submit an application to register to vote are necessarily added to the electoral register. Eligibility to be added to a register is determined by Electoral Registration Officers for their local areas.DateNorth LanarkshireScotland27/08/2019168216028/08/2019108254429/08/2019106251430/08/201976170631/08/201935137901/09/20194799102/09/201989405503/09/2019161456404/09/20191644494Total79019913

Health

Chris Ruane: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what statistical indices have been used to measure levels of happiness and well-being in the UK in the last 30 years.

Kevin Foster: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Polling Stations: Schools

Luke Pollard: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of primary schools that are used as polling stations in (a) the South West and (b) England.

Kevin Foster: The Government does not hold information centrally on the number of primary schools that are used as polling stations.

Government Departments: Location

Luke Pollard: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, when he plans to announce the next wave of Government hubs.

Simon Hart: It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.